The Waterloo Warriors men's volleyball team was looking to take a huge step towards their first ever CIS title. But the defending champs had a different idea.

The Alberta Golden Bears advanced to the national semi-final with a straight-sets victory over Waterloo (25-14, 25-12, 25-22) at the opening day of the CIS championships on Thursday afternoon in Saskatoon.

The Golden Bears used a balanced offensive attack to punch their ticket to tomorrow's semi-final. Ryan Nickifor lead the way with 11 kills, while Kevin Proudfoot and Ryley Barnes each had 9 apiece. Meanwhile, the Warriors see their national title aspirations end at the hands of the 2013 champions, despite the best efforts of their veteran leader – fourth-year libero Erich Woolley (New Dundee) was named player of the game for the Warriors, registering a game-high 8 digs.

Making their first appearance at a CIS championship tournament in 20 years, Warriors head coach Chris Lawson thought his team's unfamiliarity on the national stage showed early on. But they came together as the match progressed, as the Warriors simply ran out of time against the Canada West conference champions.

"We are younger and less experienced, and it showed," said Lawson. "But we battled and improved as the game went on. We were certainly tight at the start, but we got better as each set went along. I think if it was a best of nine, we would have been settled in by the fourth set."

The staunch Golden Bears defense didn't allow the Warriors' big weapons to get on track all afternoon.  OUA first-team all-star Jordan Dyck (St. Catharines) was held without a kill, and the OUA leader in blocks per set was credited with only four assisted blocks in three sets of action. Waterloo's Zachary Doherty (Goderich) was also held in check with only 2 kills, while Aaron Wiersma (St. Catharines) led the team with 6.

Gibson Graham (Markham) led the Warriors with 16 assists, while Alberta setup specialist Brett Walsh had 37. All told, the dominant Golden Bears finished with 44 kills to Waterloo's 21. The Warriors added 19 attack errors, while the Bears only erred 11 times.

Their championship chances might be over, but the Warriors still have a tournament to play – and their first consolation round opponent will be a familiar one. Waterloo will take on the York Lions, the team they defeated a week ago in the OUA semi-finals, tomorrow at 2pm eastern. The Golden Bears will move on to the CIS semi-final match tomorrow evening against the Dalhousie Tigers, who defeated York in a five-set thriller earlier in the day.