Red Deer claims CCAA national championship hosted in Niverville

The Red Deer Kings looked like a varsity team playing the junior varsity squad in a scrimmage at the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association’s (CCAA) national championship in Niverville last weekend.

The Kings didn’t drop a set en route to a championship victory, including a strong display in their opening match against the host Providence Pilots.

Pilots head coach Paul Armbruster was left searching for answers after his team’s below-expectations performance. Providence went win-less at the tournament, with Armbruster answering “that’s the million dollar question,” when asked what went wrong on the court.

“It stings. And it’s going to sting for a little while,” Armbruster said as the final between Red Deer and Douglas College took place.

“We’re all disappointed. It wasn’t what we wanted for the guys, it wasn’t what we wanted for the school, for the area, but the Lord is still good, the sun rises again, there’s still good ahead, there’s still lots to be proud of.”

After dropping the match to Red Deer on the opening day, Providence could never re-gain their footing, falling to the College of the Rockies (COTR) in the bronze medal quarterfinal 3-1, in a match Armbruster said was well within reach.

The Pilots also gave a strong challenge to Red Deer in their opening match, with service and passing errors on their own side of the court dooming any chance of an upset.

If the match against COTR was within reach, the final placement match was in their grasp before it slipped through. Providence won the first two sets before getting reverse-swept by Quebec champions Griffons de l’Outaouais.

“In part why this stings so much is because I do think we have legitimately improved,” Armbruster said.

The team also went win-less at last year’s national championships. Armbruster said the Pilots struggled to maintain quality practices in the second semester of the year.

“We lost some of our fundamentals and consistency,” Armbruster said when asked what it’s going to take to get Providence to compete at a higher level.

“Consistency is the name of the game.”

Armbruster was quick to thank Pilots fans for bringing full-throated support throughout the weekend, wistfully looking at the ongoing final and wondering what the gym could have looked like if Providence had been able to make to a medal-round game.

At the CCAA awards ceremony, hosted the day before the championships, Providence outside hitter Sebastian Verdaguer and left side Noah Boschman were named to the national All-Canadian team. The national player of the year was given to Outaouais striker Felix Antoine Perron.

Just because Providence left the tournament empty-handed didn’t mean locals weren’t walking away with some hardware. After defeating the Pilots, the COTR went on to beat the Dragons de Sainte-Anne, with former Steinbach Regional Sabres standout setter Boston Thiessen playing a key role.

Thiessen is the starting setter for the Avalanche, which are based in Cranbrook. He played as the main setter for COTR in every set they played at nationals, finishing second in the tournament for total assists and first in assists per set with 9.21.

Ile des Chenes’ Reece Clarke also suits up for the Avalanche and had an outstanding tournament. The former Gabrielle-Roy student finished with a tournament-high 36 digs anchoring the COTR defense as their libero.

The Providence women’s team had a similarly tough tournament in Durham, Ont., dropping their quarterfinal and bronze medal semi-final matches in straight sets, but rebounded to nab the program’s first national championship victory in a placement match, defeating the Mount Allison Mounties 3-1 in an tight contest. Each set was decided by only two points, with the second and third set requiring 29 and 30 points for the winning team.

Star hitters Tyra Peters and Serena Algera both finished with 14 kills in the victory. Peters was named to the 2025 CCAA All-Canadian team before the tournament began, with Humber’s Kennedy Williscroft claiming player of the year.

Kyle Guenther was a finalist for the CCAA coach of the year award, but lost out to Lakeland’s Austin Dyer. It was nice Guenther was on hand in Durham, as he accepted the banner denoting Providence as next year’s host school for the CCAA Women’s National Championship.

For more photos from the event, visit our website, TheCarillon.com/sports March 19.