Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
CALGARY – Motivated after getting no love from in the preseason coaches' poll, the Griffins women's volleyball team proved they'll be one to reckon with this season, after all, posting an impressive 3-1 victory over Calgary on the opening night of the Canada West season.
A solid 45-assist performance from setter Payton Shimoda and overall great passing game led to big matches from Mariah Bereziuk (16 kills and 13 digs) and Danielle Jodoin (13 kills, 11 digs).
MacEwan moved to 1-0 on the campaign after a 21-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-21 win. Not bad for a team voted 12thout of 14 teams by coaches around the conference. Calgary was voted 7th.
"I think this all started a couple of weeks ago with some good progress moving into the Vancouver weekend," said new head coach Chris Wandler, who picked up his first win with the Griffins. "After competing well against UBC and Trinity (Western), it set it up for a good weekend here in Calgary.
"It was about our preparation and mindset coming into today."
The Griffins played well against both of the Canada West titans in their final preseason weekend Oct. 13-14 and were set up for success going into Calgary.
"We've been stressing the first contact since Day 1 here in late August and it really paid dividends today in the passing," said Wandler.
While Bereziuk and Jodoin paced the Griffins offensively, it was a total team effort.
"(Mariah's) part of the story, she's not all of the story," said Wandler. "We passed really well today, so that led to her 16 kills. The way Payton distributed the ball today and set Danielle in some key situations and the middle blockers gave Mariah space."
The teams will meet again on Saturday night (6:30 p.m., Canada West TV).
"Everybody's happy, everybody's excited for the first one," said Wandler. "We'll just try to execute tomorrow. We'll see what comes."
The Griffins' home-opening weekend goes Oct. 27-28 vs. Saskatchewan.
