The Moose Jaw Field House was packed for three straight days as the 2012 ACAC Men’s Volleyball Championship took over the facility.

The host Briercrest Clippers had huge home crowds backing them over the course of their three games, but came up just short in the end, losing to Mount Royal in the semifinals and then claiming the bronze medal with the straight set win over Keyano College on Saturday afternoon.

“It’s not the colour that we wanted for the medal, but I’m proud of the fact with how disappointing Friday’s result was to see the guys come back and be professional in my opinion and show character,” said Clippers’ head coach Nigel Mullan.

“It was really something to see how the guys responded to that kind of disappointment.”

Briercrest and Mount Royal went to the limit in their semifinal match as they went back and forth for five sets before the Cougars walked away with the win ending the Clippers bid at a second straight ACAC title.

“The last three, four, five years, we’ve constantly been competing; we want to be perennial champions; and I think this is just another sign that we’re moving in the right direction and competing for medals every year,” added Mullan.

He says they will be losing three starters from this year’s squad, but felt his younger players got some good experience over the weekend, “I’m excited for the guys that are coming in behind that got a chance to learn and got some experience.  We’re really excited and expect that we should be competing again next year.”

Will the program continues to improve on the court, they may have hit their highest levels off the court after hosting the ACAC Championship for the first time and Mullan says they showed what is possible, “We’re hoping that this leads to more events like this, both for us and for Saskatchewan Volleyball.  We felt like coming in we wanted to make sure we were an example of what it could be like and I think from what I hear and see, it’s gone on really well.”

The Clippers season is over, but the Mount Royal Cougars will now head to the CCAA National Men’s Volleyball Championship coming up next weekend in Abbotsford, BC.