Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON – When Payton Shimoda looks across the net this weekend, several of the teammates she battled with at the 2022 Canada Summer Games will be staring back at her.

Four members of the Calgary Dinos – Sammi Boag, Daisy Olsen, Robyn McLean and Sheridan Coninx – were with her on the Team Alberta squad that captured a silver medal last August in Niagara Falls, Ont.

"That will be exciting," said the Griffins setter. "They're my friends, but when we play each other, they're just another team. It doesn't really make a difference."

The Griffins (0-6) will host the Dinos (3-3) on Friday (6 p.m.) and Saturday (5:30 p.m., both David Atkinson Gym, Canada West TV).

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"That was a super cool experience," Shimoda said of the Canada Summer Games. "The level was really high. It was an elite group of girls from all over (Alberta), so it was cool to be able to play with girls I hadn't played with before. 

"I really enjoyed my coaches and the training experience being away from home. The actual competition was very fun – just being part of the athletes village."

Griffins libero Bronwyn Ettinger was an alternate on the squad, training with the team before they left for Ontario.

The experience certainly gave them a lift coming into the Canada West season. Shimoda is picking up where she left off last season, leading the Griffins with 141 assists through six games in 2022-23.

To understand her meteoric rise to starting setter with the Griffins, you'd have to go back to when she was recruited by former coach Ken Briggs.

"When I met with Ken to get recruited, he didn't really want me because he had two setters (already) and I probably wouldn't play," said Shimoda. "I just said 'if I have the chance to compete would I be able to play if I did well?' And he said yes. 

"So, my goal was just to get playing time and I just wanted to improve. It worked out nicely."

Payton Shimoda sets up a play in action against Winnipeg earlier this season (Robert Antoniuk photo).

With Japanese roots on her father's side of the family, Shimoda's great great grandfather was a Samurai and her late grandfather was a high-level baseball player in Japan before moving to Canada. 

Born out of that heritage, Shimoda has long established herself as a hard worker who is undeterred by expectations put on her by others. 

"When I was younger, I was definitely a late developer," she said. "I bloomed late, but I would make teams because I worked really, really hard."

It didn't take long for Shimoda to show that with the Griffins and earn the lion's share of playing time at the setter position last season as the team transitioned from Kylie Schubert, one of the best in U SPORTS when she graduated in 2020.

After establishing a new record with 307 assists – the most in a single Canada West season by a Griffins rookie – Shimoda was named the team's Most Improved Player and was nominated for MacEwan's Female Rookie of the Year.

"I didn't start at the beginning of the season, but I was proud of myself that I was patient and stuck with it," she said. "Hopefully, that's what happens with the rest of our team throughout the season."

Patience is certainly a buzz word for the winless Griffins, who continue to take steps up the mountain in their development each weekend out.

"We're always climbing, that's for sure," said interim head coach Dusty Freimark. "In the last three weeks, I've seen an increase in competitive greatness and that's something we've talked about from Day 1. 

"It has been starting to show in practice and it's just really exciting for us to have the opportunity to compete and test where we're at. I do believe the girls are buying into that competitive fire."

Shimoda is a leader in that department as Freimark always knows what she's going to get from the Harry Ainlay and Pandas volleyball club product.

"She's very committed to the team, she's very committed to her academics, she's very committed to being the best she can be," said Freimark. "There's never a question of which Payton's going to show up. She's always going to show up and she's always going to be consistent in her play."