Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
LANGLEY, B.C. – There's no doubt the Griffins men's volleyball team deserved a better fate than a straight-sets defeat at the hands of the Trinity Western Spartans on Saturday night.
Up 18-12 in the third set, the Griffins seemed on their way to extending the proceedings before TWU went to their bread and butter on the night – their ridiculously high-velocity spin serves.
"Their game from the baseline tonight was unbelievable," said MacEwan head coach Brad Poplawski. "They put so much pressure on you with their serve. Until we're more physical in our training environment, it's almost impossible to prepare for these teams. If you don't see 110 kilometre an hour in training and you see four or five guys who can do that in a game, it's just too hard.
"I thought even with that, we did some good things. But the stress they put on us from the baseline makes it challenging. That's what happened. We were up 18-12 in the third set, and they had a couple guys go back and really put some pressure on us from the baseline."
The final result was 25-20, 25-22, 26-24 as the Spartans won to improve to 14-8 in the Canada West standings, while MacEwan dropped to 0-22.
Graduating player Henry Rempel, who was being honoured on Senior Night, led the Spartans with 12 kills, while Kaden Schmidt had nine kills and a match-high five service aces. Anselm Rein added three aces, Aaron Elser had two and Jackson Corneil and Rempel each had one.
There was no break on those crazy serves for the Griffins.
"It would have been nice to keep that match going because when we play these teams that are better and bigger than us, we talk about how every point we play is going to make us better, so we need to extend matches," said Poplawski. "We have to do these things to get better. Our goal is always to win but the things we have to do in order to extend matches (are key).
"We had our opportunities and we kind of earned that 18-12 lead, but we saw what a team that has a really good serving strategy and the ability to hit the ball with pace can do. That was the difference in that set, their ability to win points from the baseline."
M��| FINAL@TWUSpartans 3@MacEwanU 0
— MacEwan Griffins (@MacEwanGriffins) February 11, 2024
(25-20, 25-22, 26-24)
Griffins held an 18-12 lead in the third set on this Aidan McLennan blast off the block, but the Spartans rallied to deny MacEwan a victory tonight. Griffins played well and deserved a better fate.#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/c8UrCy9ThK
Owen Johnson had a breakout performance for the Griffins with a team-leading 10 kills and 10.5 points, while Mitchel Gorman had nine kills and five digs, Alexander Lyndon had 24 assists, seven digs and four blocks, and Seth Birkholz chipped in four kills and five blocks.
"I think he's really taken a big step these last two weeks," Poplawski said of Johnson. "He was really good tonight and got a couple very timely kills keeping us extending the game in the third to go into extras.
"I don't think in life you can pick your turning points, but I do think he showed a lot of signs these last two weeks that he can be pretty successful in this league, so I think that's exciting for him and for his teammates to see him have that success because they know how hard he's been working."
Johnson epitomizes the valuable experience the young players on the Griffins are getting, which should hopefully pay off next season. However, Poplawski cautions, it's about more than that.
"We talked about that in our post-game," he said. "We said we did a lot of good things, but the velocity they have on their serves, the height they're hitting at, that's built in the gym.
"They honoured their fifth-year Henry Rempel tonight, and I knew that kid going back to the high school days coaching against him on provincial teams. Now he's a different human being. He was always pretty big and physical, but now he's a giant. And that is the work he put in in the off-seasons and in the workout room.
"We talked to our guys, it's great that we got this experience, but that has to be the dedication if this program ever wants to take the next step."
The Griffins return home next weekend and will finish the season with home matches against UBC Okanagan.
