Jason Hills
For MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON — After losing in heartbreaking fashion on Friday night to the University of Calgary Dinos, the MacEwan Griffins women's volleyball team had redemption on their minds, but they simply came out with a flat performance, losing in straight sets (25-15, 25-18, 25-16) Saturday night at the David Atkinson gymnasium.
Third-year outside hitter Mariah Bereziuk led the Griffins with 11 kills and 10 digs, while second-year middle Emma Brooks recorded five kills, three digs and three aces in the loss.
First-year outside hitter Daisy Olsen led the Dinos attack with 11 kills and eight digs as the Dinos improved to 5-3, while the Griffins fell to 0-8 on the season.
"We weren't able to take care of our side. We could've been playing anybody and we would've had the same result. We just beat ourselves," said Bereziuk.
"After last night, this is very frustrating. We really wanted to bounce back and win this game, and we just didn't execute."
After dropping the opening set 25-15, the Griffins were looking to even the match. They took a slim 9-8 lead after Bereziuk's second kill of the set, but the Dinos were able to regain the lead at 10-9, and MacEwan was chasing the rest of the set. They would get within two points on six different occasions, but weren't able to close the gap, and the Dinos were able to pull away late in the set.
"It was hard. We'd get three passes, and then get a side out. We couldn't get the momentum on our side at all," said Bereziuk.
"They passed real well tonight, and we weren't putting the ball away when we should've. They dug up way more balls than they should've. They stayed really deep and we weren't able to get kills when we should've."
W��| FINAL
— MacEwan Griffins (@MacEwanGriffins) November 20, 2022
Mariah Bereziuk hits one of her team-high 11 kills in the third set, but the Griffins lost in straight sets to @UCDinos in @CanadaWest action (25-15, 25-18, 25-16). Recap coming soon.#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/wFStJoKuJq
It was more of the same in the third set as the Griffins came out strong and held an early 5-4 lead, but after the Dinos took a 9-8 lead, the Griffins couldn't gain any traction offensively. They'd get within striking distance, but couldn't find a way to dig themselves out of a hole.
After a Dinos serve went long to get the Griffins within 16-14, the Dinos went on a 9-2 run to blow the set open and close the set out.
"Our passing wasn't there tonight," said Brooks.
"A big thing for us is we either start off not good, and we have to dig ourselves out of a hole the whole set, or we start real strong and we can't finish it at the end. We've struggled with that this whole year, and it's something we have to fix."
After a solid performance in Friday's match, Saturday's result is definitely disappointing for the Griffins.
They came out with ambitions to get their first win of the season, and were stale offensively, and in their passing game.
"This is a really good learning experience for us. Moving on, we know we can't have a performance like this," said Bereziuk.
"We really need to work on swinging aggressively. We swung aggressively on Friday, and it benefited us, but today, we held back and settled for tips a lot, and that's the kind of result you get."
UP NEXT: The Griffins will now travel to Brandon next weekend to face the University of Brandon Bobcats in a weekend series. Both teams will be looking for their first win of the season as both squads are 0-8 to start the year.
