Jason Hills
For MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Last week it was the Alberta Pandas. This week it's the Trinity Western Spartans.
For the second-straight week, the MacEwan Griffins will face a nationally-ranked opponent, but the Griffins aren't complaining.
As they work towards clinching a playoff berth for the first time since the 2019-20 season, they welcome the challenge and the tough competition.
"You want to be playing at a high level of volleyball this time of year, and you only do that by playing the best," said Griffins head coach Chris Wandler.
"Outside of the weekend against TRU, we've been playing a really good level of volleyball. We haven't always got the results we've wanted, but we're right there."
The Griffins (11-9) will travel to Langley, B.C. to face the Spartans (14-6) on Friday (6 p.m. MT) and Saturday (5 p.m. MT, both Canada West TV) and will try to get back in the win column after a weekend sweep at the hands of the Pandas.
"We competed with Manitoba, and we had a good weekend against Winnipeg, and last weekend against the Pandas, they're a perennial Top 10 team in the country. We did well, but we came up short in some areas. But I have no fears that we will come out and play hard this weekend too," said Wandler.
"You need to go through some of these losses against teams like Manitoba and Alberta, some of these strong to learn how to win and know what it takes to play a consistent brand of volleyball.
"We aren't discouraged by some of these recent losses, because it's all about learning."
With four matches remaining in the regular season, the Griffins are still in great shape to clinch a playoff spot, but where they land is as good a guess as any.
UBC Okanagan, whom they face on the final weekend of the regular season, is right behind them in the standings at 9-11 and so are Calgary (8-12) and Saskatchewan (8-12).
With four games left for all teams, the Griffins would clinch a playoff spot if either Calgary or Saskatchewan gets swept this weekend, or if they can earn at least one win at TWU.
If they've clinched before they host UBCO on Feb. 16-17, those matches will remain important in terms of playoff seeding.
"We will have a battle on our hands this weekend, and then we need to finish strong in the final weekend to give us the best possible spot in the standings, but we will be ready to go, wherever we land. Our focus is playing the best volleyball we can," said Wandler.
The Griffins faced Trinity Western in the preseason and lost in straight sets (25-21, 25-14, 25-19), but both teams have grown a lot over the course of season, so you can throw the preseason results out the window.
The biggest focus for Wandler is for his team to put together a complete game running on all cylinders. While the Griffins have competed hard, it's something Wandler hasn't seen from his group in the last while.
"I want to bring the whole facet of our game together. Friday (against Alberta) we didn't' pass the ball very well, but our offence was efficient. Then, on Saturday it was the opposite," said Wandler.
"We haven't had a full complement of the game in a couple weeks. I'm looking for everything to be a little bit more stabilized and more efficient."
