Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
CALGARY – It's fair to say the ball never got rolling for the MacEwan Griffins women's volleyball team on Saturday night.
A night after jumping all over one of the top teams in Canada West and taking a 2-0 lead on Mount Royal University before yielding a comeback to lose 3-2, the Griffins lost all three sets in a 27-25, 25-9, 25-17 defeat.
"We saw what a team ranked in the top three plays like," said head coach Ken Briggs. "They upped the ante and we didn't meet their competitiveness.
"The first set was really good. They were right into it, but as soon as that was over, we just took a nosedive. They just got stronger and stronger."
MacEwan (0-2) lost the net battle and couldn't find any modicum of hitting efficiency in posting a paltry .085 number to MRU's .337.
"We matched their level for six sets out of eight," said Briggs of the weekend series. "That's the thing. They exposed our weaknesses and our lack of competitiveness. We talked about that and we can't recreate that in practice, so how do we get around that? That's what this year's about.
"Every weekend's going to be like that. If we would have matched their drive and what they're willing to do to be successful, then both nights would have been the same – a back-and-forth fight. It was a great lesson. They exposed some things we can learn (from)."
Carly Weber led the Griffins with seven kills, while Haley Gilfillan chipped in six with a team-high two blocks. A total of 11 players saw action in the match for MacEwan, though, which is a positive exposure to high-level volleyball for the younger Griffins.
"We got a lot of people in, which we don't get to do all the time," said Briggs. "Our younger kids got to be exposed for periods of time against that level and they saw what happens when a team gets rolling.
"In volleyball, you make your own momentum and it is such a momentum sport. They just fed off certain things they were successful at and you could see there was no doubt in their eyes. We've seen that with our team, too, but we've got to be able to do that every weekend."
The Griffins next return to Edmonton for their home-opening weekend vs. Regina on Friday (6 p.m.) and Saturday (5 p.m., both David Atkinson Gym, Canada West TV presented by Co-op).
