Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics

CALGARY – It was the type of effort that can lift spirits, even if the MacEwan Griffins women's volleyball team was still left searching for its first win of the season.

Moral victories don't come much finer than this: the young Griffins took a set off of U SPORTS No. 5 Mount Royal University before eventually succumbing 3-1 (25-19, 25-20, 15-25, 25-21) in Canada West action Saturday night.

"We battled the whole time," said MacEwan head coach Ken Briggs. "We fought hard. We played well. We weren't very efficient in the first two sets, but then it just got stronger and stronger. We even battled in those sets."

MRU moves to 13-3 with the win, while MacEwan falls to 0-16.

But these are the types of efforts that can give a young team a push forward in their development.

Of note was the third set where the Griffins went up 20-11 with the Cougars resting a couple of starters and didn't flinch when MRU put them back in.

"They're such a dominant team," said Briggs. "We did a lot of good things – out-blocked them, out-dug them. It was a good effort."

Mariah Bereziuk led the Griffins with 11 kills and eight digs, while Dana Dunbar produced seven kills and five blocks in the middle. Payton Shimoda had 25 assists.

"Mariah really got it going," said Briggs. "Our serve-receive was outstanding and our defence was really good because we were playing against two girls that are 6-foot-3 side by side in the front row. It's pretty intimidating. Overall, lots of people had big moments.

"And Dana Dunbar was outstanding both blocking and attacking. She was up against the big girls. It was good. Payton set a really good game and it was solid."

Nyadholi Thokbuom led the Cougars with 12 kills, while Haley Roe had nine.

The Griffins will close out the season at home against Calgary on Feb. 25-26 at the David Atkinson Gym.