| Category: | Team |
| Sport(s): | Men's Volleyball |
| Years Active: | 1996-97 |
| Year Inducted: | 2023 |
Heading into the 1996-97 season, the men’s volleyball team was coming off a fifth-place finish at the national championship after winning their 11th consecutive conference championship the previous year.
The Tigers got off to a terrific start in head coach Al Scott’s 18th season with a gold medal performance at the Waterloo Warriors Classic and a second-place finish at the Sherbrooke Omnium Vert et Or in pre-season action. They kicked off the regular season with victories over UNB and Memorial to finish the first half of the season 4-0 and found themselves ranked fourth in the nation.
In early January, they headed to the York Mizuno Excalibur Classic where they finished in a disappointing fourth place. A few weeks later, they hosted the Digs Volleyball Classic where they defeated CIAU ranked teams Montreal and UBC before losing to No. 5 Sherbrooke in a five-set match that took three hours to complete.
Dalhousie continued their winning ways in regular season play with three wins over both Memorial and UNB to post a perfect 10-0 record for their 17th straight regular season title and earned the right to host UNB in the AUAA best-of-three championship series.
Third-year middle blocker Terry Martin was named the AUAA MVP after a stellar season, with all-star nods going to team captain Eric Villeneuve, Jamie Mallon and John Hobin. Coach Scott was named the AUAA coach of the year for the 14th time in his career. The Tigers made short work of the Varsity Reds at the conference championship in late February. They took the first match 3-0 with set scores of 15-2, 15-7 and 15-10 and were equally dominate the next day, sweeping UNB in three sets with scores of 15-3, 15-4 and 15-10 to advance to the CIAU championship hosted by the University of Calgary. Villeneuve, who had returned for a fifth and final season after a year off was named the championship MVP for the second time in his career while Martin was named to the championship all-star team.
Martin was also named a CIAU first team All-Canadian for the first time in his career while Villeneuve was named to the second team – his first All-Canadian honour.
Despite a consistent national ranking of fourth for most of the season, The Tigers went into the national tournament as the sixth seed and would face the University of Saskatchewan in the quarter-final round.
Saskatchewan took the first set handily 15-8, but the Tigers charged back to win the next three 15-4, 15-11 and 15-8 to advance to the semifinal round. Martin earned player of the game honours in the match.
They took on the host University of Calgary the next day and again found themselves down a set after a 15-6 loss to give the Dinos an early 1-0 lead in the match. The Tigers rallied again to win the next three sets 17-15, 15-5 and 15-10 to advance to the championship game for the first time in program history. Fourth-year middle blocker John Hobin was the top player for the Tigers in the match.
Dalhousie faced the No. 1 seeded Alberta Golden Bears in the championship final which was televised live on TSN. Despite their best efforts, Alberta proved to be too much for the Tigers to handle and they fell 3-0 to settle for silver.
Martin and Villeneuve were both named to the championship all-star team while second-year setter Peter Exall received the R.W. Pugh Award for ability, sportsmanship and dedication.
