Jefferson Hagen / MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – The Griffins men's volleyball team faced a player last weekend who will be one of, if not the, best they'll see all year in Canada West.
This weekend, they get to face one of, if not the, best teams they'll see all season.
A week after learning lessons going against former Brigham Young University-turned Thompson Rivers University star Tim Dobbert, the Griffins now must contend with cross-town rival and perennial powerhouse Alberta, who are coming off a U Sports silver medal last March.
There's just no easy day in Canada West volleyball.
"There's probably not many guys we're going to see this year that can serve the ball that hard," said MacEwan head coach Brad Poplawski of Dobbert, the 6-foot-10 German import who rained 44 kills and five service aces down on them in a pair of 3-1 wins for TRU.
"We did block him a few times, we did dig him a few times. I think guys have to remember that and how they did it and why they were successful in that," he continued. "There's a lot of really good players in this league, so he's not the only one we're going to see. Again, it was a bit of a learning how good some players in this league can be."
MacEwan will have a chance to apply lessons learned when they host Alberta on Saturday in their home opener (6:30 p.m., Atkinson Gym) before travelling across town to meet the Golden Bears on their own turf on Sunday (5:30 p.m., Saville Centre).
While the majority of the WolfPack attack funneled through Dobbert, Alberta offers perhaps a deadlier challenge: They have myriad players who can score.
"They have some new faces this year, but U of A – never rebuilding, always re-loading, right," said Poplawski, who was once a player for the Golden Bears, along with all of his assistant coaches – Eirik Thomassen, Mike DeRocco and Chris Womack. "They've had some guys who have worked their way for one, two or three years on the bench and are now getting their opportunity. So, they're strong.
"I think U of A, they're a very balanced attack. They have a lot of different ways they could beat you – good setting that's going to distribute the ball, whichever setter they have in. They have hitters at every position who can put the ball away, so you have to have a really broad focus in your game plan."
Familiarity between players and coaches on the rosters of the two Edmonton universities runs deep. Poplawski co-coached Team Alberta's silver-medal winning team at the 2017 Canada Summer Games with Golden Bears associate coach Brock Davidiuk, while Green and Gold assistant Dale Johns was an assistant coach on the squad.
Griffins freshmen Caleb Weiss, Ryan Zachary and Liam Huth played on that team, while Jordan Krause was an alternate.
"I think the connections are there, so it's tangible," said Poplawski, who noted the volleyball world is small and players throughout Canada West have crossed paths several times in their careers already.
"It is funny, though, that there are so many people that have been coached or played with one another within the last calendar year. It is a little bit unique that way with all the ties. But it doesn't really play into the weekend at all. It's just kind of a neat side story."
On the court, the Griffins will focus on being more consistent. They weren't far off the mark against TRU – having swings both days to send the matches to a fifth-and-deciding set – but just came up short.
"Every mistake you make is so punitive in this league," said Poplawski. "I think the guys saw that a bit in preseason and really saw it this past weekend.
"You can do everything right on a play – you might pass it forward, get a perfect set and have a great swing, but their defender makes a great play and then you end up not winning the rally even though you did a lot of things right. You have to make sure you do a lot of things right a lot of the time. We were a bit inconsistent with that and you saw some system errors and some breakdowns in communication. In our league, that's just so costly."
