CMU and Prov ready to kick off the sport season

The exciting Christian school rivalry continues this year as the sports schedule gets underway.

The soccer and volleyball season starts soon for Canadian Mennonite University and Providence University College students. Both teams are part of the Manitoba Colleges Athletics Conference and had a lot of success last year.

The CMU Blazers were the champions of women and men's vollleyball, as well as men's basketball. Russell Willms, the Director of Athletics at CMU, thinks they will push for those titles again this year.

"We have a large group of returning players and, with the success, also brought in a highly touted recruiting class," Willms said. He also mentioned that both of their soccer teams should push for championships as well.

The Provindence Pilots don't have the hardware, but their season was no less sucessful. Scott Masterson, Providence's Director of Athletics, says that they lost in four different championships. They are ready to win this year.

"We're really excited about our rosters and about our chances of competing for championships for all our sports," Masterson said.

The rivalry between schools will be even more 'brotherly' for one family, who have their sons playing on opposite volleyball teams.

The Pilots kick off the soccer season on September 10 against Brandon University out west, while the Blazers will battle Red River here in the Winnipeg on the same day.

Both Willms and Masterson pointed to September 17 as a day to circle on the calendar, as the Blazers and Pilots face off against each other for the first time in the 2017-18 season.