Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – As if it wasn't an uphill battle already, trying to knock off the U SPORTS No. 7-ranked Calgary Dinos, the MacEwan Griffins men's volleyball team ran into 6-foot-8 Aussie outside hitter Hamish Hazelden.
"We pushed to a point, but Calgary has an absolute cheat code in Hamish," said Griffins head coach Brad Poplawski, whose team lost 3-0 to the Dinos (25-18, 25-20, 25-21) in their Canada West regular season finale Saturday night. "He's awesome. We'd make it to 19, 20 or whatever it was and we just couldn't stop him or defend him.
"Having that guy, you can just give the ball to when it's real important is such a crucial element in this league. All the teams we played this year had that guy. When they need a kill, he's going to get it for them. That was Hamish for them all weekend."
Unfortunately, the Griffins needed to beat the Dinos at least once on the final weekend to pass UFV for the final playoff spot. It didn't happen and they'll finish the campaign 1-17, behind the 1-15 Cascades, who make the post-season on the tiebreaker.
"We knew the odds were stacked against us and, at times, we showed a lot of fight," said Poplawski. "They're a good opponent. Unfortunately, we couldn't do more during the year and it came down to this.
"We lost a lot of games in four this year," he added. "We had chances to push to five. We didn't take care of business during the year and we knew what we had to do this weekend. I think the guys were well prepped and ready to go and they tried. We just lost to a really good team."
That's the theme of a season where the Griffins were stuck in a tough division, playing regional competition against a murderer's row of No. 6 Alberta, No. 7 Calgary and a Mount Royal team that boasts two Canadian junior national team members.
"Every team we played all year was in the top 10 or 12 nationally-ranked," said Poplawski. "Unfortunately, we're not quite there as a program yet.
"We're trying to get there, but we're not. People look at the record and go 'MacEwan's this or MacEwan's that.' I don't agree. I think my guys battled and we do have a lot of talent. We're just not at a top-10 or 12 team in the country yet.
"I don't want my guys to feel this season was unsuccessful. It was a tough season, we threw a lot at them and we battled. They did play really well at times tonight and yesterday. That's all you can ask as a coach. We've got to learn how to play in these moments and try to be better."
Prior to the contest, the Griffins celebrated graduating seniors Mark Alexander and Ty Jodoin.
Alexander started and finished with two kills and two blocks in the middle, while Jodoin came in for a couple of sets, most notably netting two kills among the final few points of Set 3.
"It was pretty nice," he said. "The guys looked at me like 'it's coming to you. Go hard.' It was a great experience to have the guys behind me."
Alexei Walisser paced the Griffins with 11 kills, while Alexander Lyndon had 26 assists.
Hazelden led the visiting Dinos with a monster 14 kills in three sets on a .440 hitting percentage, adding four blocks and two aces.
With the result, Calgary finishes with a 13-5 record, second in the Central Division. They will head to Winnipeg for the opening round of the playoffs March 4-6.
The Griffins, thrown into the fire this season, will aim to be better for it next fall.
"I hope that's the plan that this drives them to be that little bit better," said Poplawski. "They have six months now until we play again. That's what the real test will be.
"What's this team going to look like throughout our summer training and into next season? Will we use this as a stepping stone or is it just another year? That to me is the challenge going forward. Can we build on this (season)?"
