MacEwan Athletics and UBC Athletics
VANCOUVER – MacEwan men's volleyball head coach Brad Poplawski has been wanting to see more players involved in their efforts than just Mitchell Croft, who has been carrying the offence, and so he was happy to point out many of the contributions that helped the Griffins give the UBC Thunderbirds a run on Saturday night.
While they lost 3-0 (25-13, 25-22, 25-19), there were plenty of positive takeaways.
"Mason Natras was injured last night, and we had Kenny (Ang) out there tonight," said Poplawski of his setters. "I thought our passers were trying to get the ball to him so he could run his offence. Obviously, as usual this year, it runs through Mitch (Croft). He was scoring and I thought our servers put a little pressure on them. It kind of started from our passing. They did a good job keeping us in system and letting Kenny run his offence.
"We had a couple guys come in in the second set and get some key points," he added. "Sawyer Wishlow came in and served a couple for us. That was big. A first year coming in and putting some really good spin serves in is just awesome. Unfortunately, we didn't get the win, but I loved seeing the young guys come in and contribute.
"Then we had Owen Johnson, who, because of Mason's injury, he's not even a setter, but we used him to come in and set a few balls for us," added Poplawski. "What I'm asking him to do is honestly not even fair as a coach. So, I just tip my hat to OJ – 'yeah, whatever you need coach' – that's a team guy. He came in and set a few different balls for us and we love him out there for his block presence.
"Things like that are things I'll hang my hat on from today – a few contributions from different guys that at least allowed us to stay in the game that second set."
Croft led the Griffins with 13 kills and accounted for 14.0 points, while Daylan Andison added six kills, five digs and three blocks.
"Put it on repeat," said Poplawski when asked about Croft, who's now rocking a 3.79 kills/set average, still third in Canada West. "He's such a good offensive player. I loved him as a teammate this weekend. I thought he was really good supporting his teammates and being vocal. We have some guys who are quieter. I think having a guy that's willing to talk and be loud in the rally is big for us. He just continues to lead the way offensively for us. It's fun to watch.
"Because of how big he is, it's easy to forget he's a first-year in this league. He's never played in this gym or never played against these players. The fact that he's doing what he's doing as a first year is even more impressive."
Jarod Inia goes off the block with a huge kill in the second set to keep things close for @MacEwanGriffins vs. @ubctbirds #GriffNation pic.twitter.com/tA0IR8mbQK
— MacEwan Griffins Men's Volleyball Team (@GriffinsMVB) December 1, 2024
While MacEwan did not pick up a set in their trip to Point Grey, the Griffins quickly rebounded from a tough first frame on Saturday and gave the T-Birds everything they could handle for the rest of the match.
The second set was the most dramatic of the match, with the T-Birds holding a very slim lead for most of it. The Griffins proved resilient and pulled even at 21-21 off of a Croft kill.
The play of the match, or the near-play of the match, came late in the frame from Kenneth Ang. After an attempted dig by one of his teammates in the back row went awry, Ang sprinted around the right stanchion supporting the net and managed to knock a no-look set back over his head just before running into the wall, seemingly saving what appeared to be a sure shank. However, the referee ruled that Ang's pass went over the boundary pole rather than around it, so despite his valiant effort the point was awarded to UBC.
The T-Birds would go on to win the set 25-22, finished by emphatic block of Croft by Gavin Moes and Jesse Umoren.
Set three started with a 4-1 UBC run, but MacEwan gradually battled back to cut the advantage to 11-10 and draw a T-Birds timeout. The Thunderbirds rattled off five straight points out of it, including three Reeve Gingera kills.
The Griffins never got closer than a four-point deficit from there, as both teams gave their bench players time on the floor before the match concluded with a 25-19 T-Birds win.
"In the third set, we just lost our side-out rhythm a little bit," said Poplawski. "As a team, our repeatability isn't there. We do one good thing, but then we give up a run of three because of errors on our side, which sometimes are forced, but a lot of times are unforced.
"I just think technically, we have to keep improving, so we don't make the errors we've been making."
