Jefferson Hagen / MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Although it's a year of huge turnover for the Manitoba Bisons men's volleyball program – losing seven graduating seniors off a team that fell in the Canada West championship match and finished fifth in USPORTS – the MacEwan Griffins are still expecting a tough foe when they pay a visit to Winnipeg this weekend.
Manitoba (1-5) hosts MacEwan (0-6) on Friday (6:45 p.m. MT) and Saturday (4 p.m. MT, both matches on Canada West TV).
"Watching them play, it's quite a different team, but they also have three guys that were there (last year)," said Griffins head coach Brad Poplawski. "And two guys that really carry a lot of offence for them are fifth-year guys (Scott Vercaigne and Adam DeJonckheere) – two really, really good veteran players who we've seen our whole USPORTS career.
"So, you have to really know where those guys are and pay attention to them. When you have those solid leaders, I think it does help the young guys because they have someone to look to – as far as someone to make a play and be the emotional gauge for the team.
"While they're a new team, I think they still have some of the experience of guys who have been to nationals and played in those big games."
Among those no longer on the Bisons roster are All-Canadians Devren Dear and Luke Herr, and Dale Iwanoczko Award winner Ken Rooney, who dominated the middle last season.
The Bisons now boast 11 first-year players, so they have much in common with the young Griffins, who have six rookies this season. Included in that total is freshman setter Caleb Weiss and outside hitter Ryan Zachary, who've seen significant playing time in all six matches this season. Weiss leads the Griffins in assists (153), while Zachary is second in kills and digs (56 and 40).
The young Griffins are gaining valuable experience so far, especially in close sets. Four of eight against UBC-Okanagan this past weekend could have gone either way, and they only won one.
"I think to learn in those you have to put yourself in those situations," said Poplawski. "You have to play tight games and you have to be tied at 23. It can be really hard to replicate that in training.
"We worked on some execution and the technical side of it, but my hope is we give ourselves those chances to be in tight games the rest of the year. I think that's how you learn to make plays in those situations."
"I'm hoping this weekend we can play some tight sets and push Manitoba to see how we react to see if we have learned. Hopefully, we don't make the same errors."
