Red River College's Rebels Men's Volleyball team wrapped up their third straight season of undefeated play over the weekend, winning their fourth straight Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference (MCAC) Championship Saturday night in front of 400 spectators.

The 2011 MCAC Final 4 Volleyball Championships, held last Friday and Saturday at RRC's recently-upgraded North Gym, saw the Rebels men's and women's teams playing host to squads from Canadian Mennonite University, Assiniboine Community College, Providence College and College universitaire de Saint-Boniface.

The Rebels men's team took the top spot at the tourney — besting the CMU Blazers with a 3-1 win, and finishing first in regular season standings with 12 wins and no losses. The women's team finished fourth in the tournament (the top spot went to the Providence College Freemen), but ranked second in regular season play with a 9-7 record.

The men's team's final match was a bit of nailbiter: Though RRC won the first, third and fourth sets (27-25, 25-20 and 25-15, respectively), CMU clinched the second with a 25-21 win. The second set also had to be delayed briefly after Rebels setter Curtis Sawatzky collided with teammate Dave Glass, opening up a cut on Glass's forehead.

"The guys have always responded to adversity this year," said Rebels head coach Dan Gilbert after the final. "With Dave (Glass) going out with that cut above his eye, and even though we dropped that set, it was the challenge we needed to really spark us."

Rebels hitter Jacoby Dueck's strong performance over the weekend earned him Final 4 MVP honours, while teammate Tom Oosterveen and CMU's Todd Reimer were named players of the game.

In related news, Dueck, Oosterveen and Erik Hansen were named 2010-11 All-Conference Selections (Oosterveen was also named Regular Season MVP), while on the women's side, Carley Dupuis and Amy Nachtigall earned All-Conference Selection honours.

For more information and standings, see mcacathletics.ca