Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
CALGARY – A marathon match isn't usually a term used in a straight-sets result, but that was the case on Saturday night.
Two of the three sets went deep into extra points and could have gone either way, so the MacEwan Griffins were left with a bit of an undeserved 3-0 loss to the Calgary Dinos (30-28, 25-18, 36-34).
"We lose two sets deep into extras," said Griffins head coach Brad Poplawski. "So, it was a marathon. It's unfortunate we couldn't turn that one point to flip it. The guys put up a very good fight. In the first set, they mostly had the advantage, so we had to side out a number of times to keep the set alive. And we did that until obviously it stopped.
"In the third set, I think we had five or six set points. And I think we missed five or six serves when we had opportunities to put them away. It sucks to lose, nobody likes losing, but I think my team showed a ton of fight and ton of heart with their effort tonight."
Fabian Breitenbach led the Griffins in kills for a second-straight night with 13, adding nine digs, while Brendon Lord chipped in with 10 kills and Kenneth Ang recorded 32 assists.
"Fabian was good again for us," said Poplawski. "Seth (Birkholz) did a good job in the middle with some good blocks and timely kills, and some good service pressure. And I thought Kenny distributed the ball again very well, setting wise."
If there is anything to learn after going through a pair of marathon sets, it's that you gain experience that can be valuable next time you fight for clutch points.
"Hopefully just being comfortable playing in those moments," said Poplawski when asked about what they can take away from it. "We talked about trusting our training, trusting our skills and they worked really hard to give themselves those opportunities.
"Obviously, the hope is we find ourselves in a lot more of those this year where we're in a tight contest, tight battles. Just having that experience being in them, knowing the importance of making a play when it's necessary that we can be on the right end of it.
"We want to be in a lot of those this year. We want to push teams and give ourselves opportunities."
Their next chance will come at home when they welcome the Thompson Rivers WolfPack next Friday (6:30 p.m.) and Saturday (4:30 p.m., both David Atkinson Gym, Canada West TV).
