Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – The result didn't end in MacEwan's favour when they squared off against nationally-ranked Manitoba last weekend.
But that doesn't mean they didn't grow through the experience.
In the end, they were barely behind the Bisons as four of the six sets they dropped in 3-1 and 3-0 losses could have gone either way.
"When you get the No. 8 team in the country coming in and one of the better outside hitters in your gym (Canada West kills leader Raya Surinx), you want to have a good, gritty showing," said MacEwan head coach Chris Wandler. "I thought we played that for, I'd say, 95 per cent of the time over the weekend. So, I was very happy what we got out of it from a competition standpoint.
"Obviously, there were some times we needed to finish the job, especially in that second set on the first night. But other than that, I thought we had a championship mindset.
"It was good to set the tone in a really hard weekend, going into another weekend versus Thompson Rivers where we're trying to go after it."
Indeed, the Griffins (9-5), who saw their six-game winning streak snapped last weekend, will try to start another win streak when they visit the WolfPack (3-9) in Kamloops, B.C. this weekend (Friday, 6:30 p.m. MT and Saturday, 4 p.m. MT, both Canada West TV).
The Griffins are currently sixth in the Canada West standings and will go into TRU with a chance to keep a chasing pack of teams well back of them in a quest for their first playoff spot since 2019-20.
"We go about doing our daily chores – our work ethic of what's gotten us to this point and trying to execute those to the best of our ability," said Wandler, who noted mastering the details is the backbone of their success. "Then, we just need to figure out how to take that level of play we had versus Manitoba and take it into (TRU).
"It's a really good solid effort and I was happy with that effort. Now, we have to duplicate it this weekend. That's what great teams do. They take mindset from day to day and transfer it from Friday to Saturday from one weekend to the next. That's what we're going to have to do."
