Jefferson Hagen / MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Flash back to Oct. 1.
After rolling through the University of Winnipeg's Unruh Invitational preseason women's volleyball tournament undefeated, the MacEwan Griffins beat the Manitoba Bisons 3-1 in the final to claim a trophy.
It's hard to believe, but they haven't won a match since.
Maybe, just maybe, though, they can bring back the positive winning vibes from that preseason match as they roll back into Winnipeg to face the Bisons once again this weekend (Friday, 5 p.m. MT; Saturday, 5:45 p.m. MT, both matches on Canada West TV).
"It's just been coming at us in waves, so it's really nice to have played somebody and had some success," said MacEwan head coach Ken Briggs, whose team has faced three teams with a combined record of 13-7 in going 0-6 to start the Canada West campaign.
"We also played them at the end of the season last year, so you kind of have a good feel for what they can bring," he added of the Bisons. "They're one of the most unorthodox teams with really different systems. It really makes you prep and we're getting used to that."
Led by veteran head coach Ken Bentley, now in his 31st year at the helm of the Bisons, Manitoba has gone 2-4 this season. They're another one of those teams MacEwan will have to beat if they hope to catch a playoff spot in 2017-18. So, that makes this weekend extremely important.
"They're a young team, but a team that's battling just like us," said Briggs. "They've had some success. They've had some early wins. The biggest things for them is a fifth-year setter came back after being away for a couple of years and she was an all-star."
That would be Brittany Habing, who has previously been a CIS Academic All-Canadian, Canada West second team all-star and was also named to the CIS Championship all-star team.
"She's made a huge difference – just the experience factor," said Briggs. "But they have a really young team. They were really young last year. Very athletic."
The Griffins will counter with a more veteran team doing a lot of the right things, but not seeing the results in the win column at this point.
They're coming in off a pair of losses to the UBC-Okanagan Heat, who are ranked fifth in USPORTS. Griffins' all-time kills leader Cassidy Kinsella was limited to just seven kills in the second match of the weekend – a rare day when she didn't hit double digits.
"It's easy now for teams that have seen Cass for three or four years," said Briggs. "She never hits against a person. They're really keying on her and we have to find ways to (get her open).
"It still comes down to – and we talk about it every week – is being better in the serve, serve-receive department. We're getting better. If we continue that, now we don't have to deal with the size we've had to deal with the last couple of weekends. It kind of evens the playing field a little bit. But it doesn't let us off the hook."
