Jefferson Hagen / MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – There's no better way to prepare a young team for future success than running it through a gauntlet like the MacEwan Griffins face to close out the 2017-18 Canada West men's volleyball season.
Want to get better? How about finishing the season with matches against three nationally-ranked teams?
That slate kicks off with a road trip to No. 5 Brandon on Friday (6:45 p.m. MT) and Saturday (5:45 MT, both matches on Canada West TV).
MacEwan will then travel to No. 10 Calgary on Feb. 9-10 and close out the campaign at home against No. 8 Winnipeg on Feb. 16-17.
The Griffins have had some success against U SPORTS titans. One of their best outings of the season came back on Dec. 1 against former No. 1 (now No. 2) Trinity Western when they pushed the play against the defending national champs for a good portion of the match, threatening a big upset before succumbing to a 3-1 defeat.
Despite their 2-16 record, the Griffins' best is good enough to put pressure on top teams.
"I think as the year's gone on, the guys have noticed that," said head coach Brad Poplawski. "I've really noticed after games, they're frustrated with a loss instead of surprised that they were competing.
"I keep going back to – with such a young group – that belief is a powerful thing. It's such a young team. We have a lot of 18 year olds playing against 22, 23 year olds. I think for them, it's just learning that their best is good enough. When they do the things they have to do, we compete quite well.
"I think that's something we'll look for this weekend when we're playing a top team," he added. "We have to try to find a level and maintain, knowing that they're going to do some good things and being OK with that. You're going to give up points, but we can't give up streaks of points."
That's been perhaps the Griffins' biggest Achilles' heel in a season that's been full of ups and downs. They're coming in off a 3-2 loss last Saturday against Canada West cellar dweller Regina where the teams traded long dominating runs of points.
Brandon (12-6) is coming in off a pair of losses at U SPORTS No. 1 UBC and can clinch a playoff spot this weekend, so they're going to be hungry – starving even.
Still, the Griffins' own play is all they can control.
"Again, we talked about how we have to keep learning every weekend," said Poplawski. "Brandon's going to stress a lot of parts of our game. I think we need to be patient at times but also know when to push. In the progression of our team, that's something we're trying to work on every day and trying to show it in matches.
"Knowing how good they are as a team, they're going to do some things quite well. How can we counter-act that? But also the decisions we make (are important). Learning when to be aggressive, and just limiting errors is something I want to see from us."
