Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics

CALGARY – Two steps forward, one step back is almost what the dance feels like for the young, learning MacEwan Griffins women's volleyball team these days.

For all their good plays in Friday's straight-sets defeat to the Mount Royal University Cougars, there were errors that prevented them from getting into their rhythm.

"Frustrating," summed up MacEwan head coach Ken Briggs of the 25-22, 25-14, 25-18 loss. "There were moments of really good stuff, but it wasn't quite the consistency we've been building over the last little while.

"We're just figuring out what it's like for the best teams preparing for playoffs and everything they throw at you. Mount Royal's got really good size and had a mixed lineup we hadn't seen before. I thought we had a lot of good moments. We passed well. We just didn't finish."

With the result, the Griffins remain winless in 2021-22, falling to 0-14, while MRU – ranked No. 5 in U SPORTS – improves to 11-3.

Erica Bolink led the Griffins with seven kills, while Mariah Bereziuk had six. Payton Shimoda added 20 assists.

Emma Boyd topped MRU's attack with eight kills on a .727 hitting percentage, adding six blocks, while Jessica Osczevski chipped in seven kills and Quinn Pelland had 24 assists.

The teams will meet again on Saturday (6:30 p.m., Canada West TV presented by Co-op) where the Griffins will be looking for better consistency.

"The things we prepared for – our block defence against certain hitters – we did that part," said Briggs. "It's the same old thing where we fluctuate – we'll make a really great play and then we'll miss the next serve or hit the next ball out of bounds. We just can't get that flow.

"Probably two out of the three sets were ours for the taking," he added. "We had a fairly significant lead in the third set (14-9) and let them go off on a 10-point run (to 19-14) where we tried everything. We just kept making mistakes.

"It's the same frustration, just a different night."