Jason Hills
For MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – The MacEwan Griffins were taught a good lesson by the Manitoba Bisons on Saturday.
One night after going toe-to-toe against the No. 8 ranked team in the country, the Manitoba Bisons stepped it up another notch in the rematch, and MacEwan wasn't able to find an answer as they lost in straight sets (25-22, 25-18, 25-18) on Saturday at the David Atkinson Gym.
The loss dropped the Griffins to 9-5 this season, while Manitoba improved to 12-2.
"The passing was there, but we struggled with our attack. The consistency in all phases of our game just wasn't there," said Griffins head coach Chris Wandler.
"We're ascending, but we're not there yet. We have big plans, and this should be a little bit of a carrot for them. Overall, this should be a motivator for us to take the next step. We can't feel sorry for ourselves."
Mariah Bereziuk led the Griffins with 13 kills and seven digs, while Alyshia Burks recorded seven digs. Payton Shimoda had 29 assists and eight digs for MacEwan in the loss, while Raya Surinx led Manitoba with 15 kills.
The Griffins opened the game strong. An ace from Shimoda gave them an early 3-0 lead and they continued to put the pressure on the Bisons and led the opening set the majority of the way, on the strength of a big kill from Bereziuk that made it 13-10, and a kill from Sarah McGee made it 19-16 for MacEwan, but Manitoba went on a 8-0 run late in the set to earn the set win, highlighted by an ace from Light Uchechukwu.
"I mentioned to the group (pre-game) that good teams can be consistent one night and great teams are consistent both nights, and we didn't play with consistency, especially on first contact," said Wandler.
"We kind of just crumbled in parts of the match where we needed to execute most."
Manitoba was able to carry that momentum into the second set, but MacEwan kept things very close for a good portion of the set. Both teams traded leads back and forth quite a bit.
With the Bisons holding a small lead, Bereziuk stepped up with a big block and then Bryks hit a kill down the line to tie it at 16-16, but after Manitoba tied it at 17-17, they went on an 8-1 run to close out the set win.
"Manitoba was relentless tonight," said Wandler.
"I felt we broke down a bit. Manitoba was able to raise their level and we didn't. That's the type of relentlessness we need to pursue."
On Friday, after falling behind 2-0 in two real close-set losses, the Griffins responded with a big set win of their own, and almost pushed it to a fifth set, but on Saturday, Manitoba wanted no part in extending the match.
MacEwan was able to take an early set lead at 9-7 on the strength of a kill from Bryks and a nice block from Arden Butler, but Manitoba was able to take a 10-9 lead, and wouldn't relinquish the lead again.
"I think we had a lot of communication errors, and our communication overall wasn't what it was yesterday. That's where we had issues," said Bereziuk.
"We just couldn't execute on the offensive side of the ball. It's a little frustrating, especially against a team like Manitoba, who is right with us in the standings. We certainly weren't at our best tonight."
MacEwan will be on the road the next two weeks when they go to Kamloops next weekend to take on the Thompson Rivers WolfPack, and then on go to Winnipeg to take on the Winnipeg Wesmen on Jan. 19-20.
NAVC presented scholarships to Mason Natras of the men's volleyball team and Sarah McGee of the Griffins women's volleyball team on Saturday (Eduardo Perez photo).
