As a setter for the Sheridan Bruins men's volleyball team, Chris Tiernay was a league and championship all-star his first two seasons in the OCAA.

Tiernay and his Bruins teammates won the provincial championship in 1983 and 1984, and went on to win the men's volleyball national championship in 1983. This was the OCAA's only volleyball national title until 2012.

In the 1983-84 season, Tiernay was a league all-star and MVP, a CCAA all-Canadian, and Sheridan's Male Athlete of the Year.

He was selected to the OCAA Men's Volleyball All-Millennium Team in 2000.