Last March, the Trinity Western University men's volleyball team hoisted the CIS championship banner in front of a capacity crowd at the Langley Events Centre, as the Spartans claimed their second national title.

This weekend, the action returns as the LEC as TWU hosts the 2012 Canada West Final Four men's volleyball championships.

The tournament opens Friday with semifinal matches at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., with the bronze medal and the gold medal matches following on Saturday at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively.

On Friday the second-place University of Manitoba Bisons will match up against the third-place University of Alberta Golden Bears at 6 p.m.

Then, the top-ranked Spartans will host the fourth-place University of Calgary Dinos at 8 p.m.

The winners will play for the CW title Saturday at 7 p.m., while the losers will match up in the bronze medal contest at 5 p.m.

For the past 17 years the CIS national champion has come from the Canada West Final Four: the Spartans are the defending CIS champions, the Dinos were the '10 champions and the Golden Bears were the '09 champions, while the Bisons last won in '02.

This weekend, these teams will battle for positioning at this year's CIS tournament.

The winner of this weekend's tournament will secure the No. 1 spot heading into the CIS championship March 2-4 at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont.

Tickets for Friday and Saturday's tournament are available at the LEC or at Ticketmaster.ca. For more about this weekend's tournament, visit www.langleyeventscentre.ca or gospartans.ca.