Jason Hills
For MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – The MacEwan Griffins were no doubt using this weekend as a measuring stick against the nationally-ranked No. 8 Manitoba Bisons.
And while they may have lost a four-set heartbreaker (25-23, 26-24, 24-26, 25-22), they certainly showed they can battle with one of the best teams in the country on Friday night at David Atkinson Gym.
"The margins for error tonight were minuscule, and we competed hard, we just ended up on the short end of the stick, but that's the way sport goes," said Griffins head coach Chris Wandler.
"We competed with them, and we were right there, it just comes down to certain little moments. Maybe we need to serve the ball a little better, because we allowed them to be in system a little too much, but I was happy with our effort."
The loss snapped a six-game winning streak for MacEwan, while Manitoba extended their winning streak to nine in a row with the victory.
Alyshia Bryks led the Griffins with 15 kills and five digs, while Sarah McGee added 10 kills, four digs and two blocks. The Bisons really keyed on Griffins' kill leader Mariah Bereziuk, but she still finished with 12 kills, eight digs and two blocks.
Raya Surinx led Manitoba with 23 kills, seven digs and two service aces, while Light Uchechukwu recorded 13 kills and nine digs. Julia Arnold led the Bisons with 19 digs.
"We're playing against a team in this conference that brings their A game every night. Manitoba is a great team. They're physical, and at times, I felt like we matched their physicality," said Wandler.
If there was one turning point in the game, it came in the second set. After a close opening set, the Griffins were well on their way to winning the second, thanks in large part to the strong serving run of Arden Butler to propel MacEwan to a 17-7 lead, but then the Bisons hunted MacEwan down and rallied for a 26-24 set win.
"It was a tale of two rotations. We went on a nice spread with Arden, but then we let Raya (Surnix) get to us with her spin serve and we just couldn't find a way to get a side-out," said Wandler.
"Raya is a really good player. She went off for 23 kills tonight. We limited some of their other players offensively, but #25 was good for them."
After such a gut tough second-set loss, the Griffins could've just packed it in and said it wasn't their night, but they showed a lot of fight in the third set.
They jumped out to another big lead, but again allowed the Bisons to fight their way back into it. This time, however, they found a way to close out the set with a win. The Griffins held the lead the entire way until Bisons outside hitter Ella Gray served up an ace to take a 25-24 lead.
But Bereziuk came through with back-to-back blocks to get the set win for the Griffins.
"I loved our team's fight and battle when each set was so close. We've been working on a lot of drills where we practise battling for the last couple of points, and I thought we showed some real grit there," said Griffins setter Payton Shimoda, who led MacEwan with 45 assists and 12 digs.
While Shimoda and the Griffins can take a lot of positives from this loss, it's certainly one that the up-and-coming team in the conference can learn a lot from.
"It's an exciting feeling because that game was in our reach, but also disappointed in some of the execution, and we didn't take advantage of some points. That second set was a hard pill to swallow, but going into tomorrow, we can be confident, but we need to manage the ups and downs a little better," said Shimoda.
"This game showed that we can compete with the teams at the top. They're in our wheelhouse, it's not just a one-night thing."
MacEwan and Manitoba will wrap up their weekend series on Saturday at the David Atkinson Gym at 4:30 p.m. (Canada West TV).
