Jason Hills
For MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON — Confidence and belief can go a long way, and the MacEwan Griffins women's volleyball team is proving that in the early stages of the season.
In their home opener against the Saskatchewan Huskies, they made a strong statement to the rest of the conference that they won't be pushed around anymore.
They earned a hard-fought straight sets win (25-23, 32-30, 25-20) over Saskatchewan on Friday night at the David Atkinson Gym to improve to 3-0 this season.
Mariah Bereziuk had a monster performance leading the Griffins with 15 kills, nine digs and five aces. But it wasn't just a one-woman show as MacEwan showed a well-balanced attack with Alyshia Bryks chipping in with 10 kills and Kara Frith adding eight.
Setter Payton Shimoda recorded 39 assists in the win for MacEwan.
Keely Anderson had 10 kills and three digs in the loss for Saskatchewan.
"A lot of those experiences the past two years have really galvanized the group. They battled as first and second years and tried to make it in this conference, and it's really tough," said Griffins head coach Chris Wandler of a Griffins squad that was 4-20 last season.
"They're now reaping the benefits of going through that experience. They're more mature and more confident than they were and it's all on them and it really shined through tonight."
The Griffins' home opener had it all. All three sets were ultra-tight. There was a marathon second set, and there were momentum swings all over the place that had both teams pushing each other blow for blow.
It was a game that maybe in the past, the Griffins wouldn't have found a way to get that win — but that's the past. The Griffins are focused on the now, and the future.
"We felt real confident out there. Our confidence never wavered," said Bereziuk.
"Even in that second set, we found a way to battle back into it. When we got to that 20-point mark, our team just settled in, and you could see how calm we were under that pressure. We just took it point for point."
In that marathon set, MacEwan held a tight 10-9 lead, but the Huskies started to rally and gain momentum, but the Griffins did a great job of not letting that set get away from them. They kept reeling them in and were able to eventually tie it at 22-22.
Both teams continued to push each other back and forth as the score was tied 15 different times in the set, It finally ended with captain Sarah McGee showing deft touch on a tip at the net to secure the set win.
"I don't think I've ever been part of a set like that. Holy moly! It felt like we played four sets because of that long second set," smiled Bereziuk.
MacEwan rode that momentum of that big second set win and put Saskatchewan away in that third set, and Bereziuk had her fingerprints all over the third set win.
She had two of her five aces in the third set, and she came up clutch with several timely kills.
"It's all about getting that balance and we had that tonight. We didn't want Saskatchewan to key on Mariah, but when we needed her tonight, she was our go-to and she was the best player on the court tonight, and you couldn't stop her," said Wandler.
"She (Bereziuk) was on fire. I don't know what got into her, but she found her groove and she made them pay tonight."
It wasn't just Bereziuk doing all the damage. The Griffins had several players taking part in the win, and so far through the first three games of the season — they've shown that they have many weapons they can count on when needed.
"There's a sense of belief within our group — 100 percent," said Bereziuk.
"When we saw the coach's poll this year, we said we would upset some teams, and we've gone out and proven it. Now, we have to keep this momentum rolling."
MacEwan will wrap-up their weekend series on Saturday against Saskatchewan (3 p.m., David Atkinson Gym, Canada West TV).
