Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – An oft-used term that Chris Wandler has used to describe the type of play his MacEwan women's volleyball team is playing when they're at their best is 'championship mindset.'
This is at the heart of what led the Griffins to finish the first semester on a six-game winning streak that vaulted them into the upper echelons of teams in Canada West with a 9-3 record.
Since coming back from semester break, though, they've dropped four straight, including getting swept last weekend at Thompson Rivers University despite entering the series 18 points ahead of the WolfPack in the standings.
So, starting with Monday's practice, Wandler kicked off a plan to get their championship mindset back.
It's in the details and the fundamentals.
It's in the love of the game.
It's what will lead them to find their confidence again.
"We're getting back to the process of our passing and serve game," he said. "Somehow it left us that first Friday against Manitoba (back on Jan. 5). Somehow we lost some confidence, some swagger of learning how to play and were being a little bit too hard on ourselves. So, it's trying to reboot."
The Griffins will look to get back in the win column this weekend when they travel to meet Winnipeg on Friday (5 p.m. MT) and Saturday (5:45 p.m. MT). The Wesmen are 6-8 to MacEwan's 9-7, so it's a pivotal weekend for the Griffins to keep charting a course towards their first playoff berth since 2019.
The first step: just play, follow the process and don't over-think things.
"I think we want to just remind them about what it's like to play, what got them to this point and not think about the playoff spot," said Wandler. "It's just to do the things we did in the first half and the results take care of themselves. All the details, the stuff that goes into the actual execution of the skill (is the key)."
And that's what ultimately feeds their 'championship mindset.'
"Like every weekend, it's an important weekend to play some championship volleyball," said Wandler. "That's the mindset we've been trying to distill in them. Championship mindset is … the process in order to get the result. The result will come if we just continue to re-iterate the thoughtfulness of the importance of each contact.
"They're a good team and we're going to have to play well to compete with them."
