Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Refreshed and renewed by the holiday break, the Griffins women's volleyball team heads into the second semester this weekend at Manitoba with a clean slate.
More than other teams, it really feels like a new season is beginning in January for a team that spent the first semester of the 2022-23 Canada West campaign adjusting to a new coach.
"The first half was a lot of change for the girls," said interim head coach Dusty Freimark. "They had to get to know me, and I had to get to know them. We were trying to figure out who we were, what was our identity."
Towards the end of the semester, they began to figure it out, netting a couple of wins to finish with a 2-10 record.
Identity in place and adjustments made, it's now about getting better each weekend out in 2023.
"This half, we're kind of looking at it like there's no more time to figure things out, it's just time to take another step forward and leave the doubts or the questions – whatever it is that came with this new setup – (behind)," said Freimark.
"We've just had some time to work on a few things and they've had some time to heal their bodies. We're excited."
As they resumed practice this week, the Griffins hosted the Red Deer College Queens for scrimmage action designed to sharpen them for weekend contests at the Bisons on Friday (6:45 p.m. MT) and Saturday (5:45 p.m. MT, both Canada West TV).
Manitoba enters the second semester at 6-6, so MacEwan will need to be on top of their game to emerge with a win or two this weekend.
"We have to minimize our errors against them," said Freimark. "They're the type of team that doesn't make errors. They don't necessarily take a lot of risks because they don't want to make those errors. They kind of put the ball back in our court and wait for us to make those errors. So, that's something we're really focusing on and aware of. At the same time, we still have to stay aggressive."
