Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Undone by the nerves associated with a home opener and the electric atmosphere that comes with 300+ fans in the David Atkinson Gym, the MacEwan Griffins women's volleyball team suffered a straight sets defeat to the Winnipeg Wesmen on Friday night.
They weren't really in any of them, losing 25-15, 25-16, 25-17.
"I think our inexperience showed tonight," said interim head coach Dusty Freimark. "I think it was a little bit of pressure of the first game.
"For a lot of these athletes this was the first time on the court for them. I think we felt pretty comfortable knowing what was coming at us, but we just didn't know how to execute."
There's no doubt the moment proved overwhelming for some, which is something they'll settle into as they get more seasoning in their Canada West careers.
"A lot of these girls have never been on the court before," said Freimark. "Home opener and their family and friends … as much as we talk about eliminating the distractions, narrowing our focus and it's just about us, for young athletes sometimes that's easy to say and hard to do.
"It will be something we address tonight in the dressing room."
The Griffins were keeping it close throughout the early part of the opening set behind some strong kills by Arden Butler and trailed just 11-10 before the Wesmen took full control.
MacEwan errors started piling up, while the Wesmen defence was in fine form, displayed best by Portia Switzer, who laid out for a spectacular dig that keyed a long rally that Haille Bujan finished off to give Winnipeg a 16-12 advantage. They went on a 9-2 run after that, closing out the set when Selva Planincic blocked Butler.
Dana Dunbar battles for a ball at the net on Friday (Robert Antoniuk photo).
Winnipeg opened up a small lead early in the second set and MacEwan could never get closer than three points, despite more solid work from Butler, who had a big block at 18-14 and a big kill at 20-16. An error cost the Griffins in the end when Alyshia Bryks' overbump on set point hit off the top of the net and out for a 25-16 Wesmen win.
MacEwan showed some flashes in the third set – particularly behind a strong serving run by Bereziuk – but were ultimately undone by serving errors (four of them late in the set) and an inability to establish a block, giving the Wesmen carte blanche to rip into their defence.
"I think it will be a learning experience more than anything – decision making," said Freimark. "Volleyball's a tough game. Sometimes you have to stick to take things away and trust that your defence will pick up other things, but I think it was a little bit of hesitation not wanting to give anything up. But that's not how you can live in volleyball, so I think just that inexperience of trusting our game plan."
If there is anything the Griffins can take out of the match positively, it's that they can play much better.
"I've seen a lot more from this group of athletes than what was on display tonight," said Freimark. "And that's something we can take forward. I think we'll know it was a missed opportunity for us."
The teams will meet again on Saturday (5:30 p.m., David Atkinson Gym, Canada West TV).
