Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – They're in, so now what?
What's next for the MacEwan women's volleyball team after officially punching their Canada West post-season ticket last weekend for the first time in program history?
Most importantly, home court advantage in the first round is up for grabs. The Griffins (14-6) currently sit fourth in the standings behind third-place Thompson Rivers University (15-5) and are trying to stay ahead of Alberta (12-6) and Saskatchewan (12-6), who have games in hand.
"I think in their minds, they were always confident they were going to make the playoffs once we got into mid-January here and saw how things shook down," said Griffins head coach Ken Briggs. "Now it's just to continue the things we've done well and monitor rest and preparation. We're into a routine now. We'd love to keep up our defensive intensity that's gotten better every weekend."
Bound for Kelowna, B.C. for a weekend series against the UBC-Okanagan Heat on Friday (7 p.m. MT) and Saturday (5 p.m. MT, both on Canada West TV presented by Co-op), the Griffins will look to continue their strong defensive play that led to a sweep of Winnipeg last weekend.
"It sounds really cliché, but we just want to value every touch and understand that our systems that we use, and our game preparation sets us up for that success," said Briggs. "As long as all the parts of the machine work, we'll touch more balls.
"A lot of those touches this weekend were because of the block, which doesn't get any credit. How many balls they touched and how much space they took away really led to all the opportunities in the background for both teams. You just want to keep doing that."
MacEwan still has plenty left to play for in their final four matches of the regular season, which will also include a home series vs. TRU on Feb. 7-8.
The UBC-Okanagan Heat, meanwhile, are in the fight of their lives for the final playoff spot. They share a 6-12 record with the Calgary Dinos, just back of eighth-place Winnipeg (8-12). So, the Griffins can expect a hungry team this weekend.
"UBCO poses a lot of challenges, as does every team every weekend," said Briggs. "They've had so many different people in and out of the lineup because of injury, etc. that it's hard to prepare for a lineup. They have a lot of depth and a lot of people playing different positions, so that's the new challenge for this weekend."