Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
LANGLEY, B.C. – Three times in her prolific career with the MacEwan Griffins women's volleyball program did Cassidy Kinsella hit 25 kills in a match (2014, 2017 and 2017).
She now has company.
Mariah Bereziuk matched Kinsella's program record with 25 kills and almost spurred the Griffins to a thrilling comeback against the Trinity Western Spartans on Saturday night before they fell 3-1 (25-20, 26-24, 26-28, 25-23).
Among her efforts, Bereziuk also broke the program record for the most points by a Griffin in a Canada West match, finishing with 28.0, topping the old mark of 26.5 reached twice by Kinsella (2014 and 2017) and once by Lauren Holmes (2020).
"Everything she touched was a point, it seemed like," said MacEwan head coach Chris Wandler. "After the second set, she only had eight kills, so she was on fire that second half of the match."
Griffins setter Payton Shimoda narrowly missed the program record for assists, finishing with 52, one shy of the mark of 53 shared by Rebecca Martin (2015) and Kylie Schubert (2020).
"Payton delivered the ball well," said Wandler. "Payton had seven kills herself. She was all over the scoresheet."
Alyshia Bryks added 13 kills and 13 digs, while Sarah McGee had 11 kills and five blocks.
"All our key players were really good tonight and it showed in a really good effort," said Wandler.
W��| SET 3
— MacEwan Griffins (@MacEwanGriffins) February 11, 2024
After rallying back from as many as six down, Mariah Bereziuk puts the Griffins out front in Set 3.@MacEwanU closes it out to win 28-26 and now trail the @TWUSpartans 2-1.
Bereziuk is already up to 19 kills and 12 digs in this one.@CanadaWest #GriffNation pic.twitter.com/L0XlaXj3yl
All that was missing was a victory, which could easily have come. The stats show MacEwan deserved a better fate. Their overall attacking efficiency outpaced the Spartans (.329 to .321), and they outplayed Trinity Western at the net (14-6 on blocks).
"The whole entire match, they played really well – another level," said Wandler, who was asking for this kind of a performance from his team after an inconsistent straight-sets loss to Trinity Western on Friday. "It's really weird how a different day can bring a different outlook on things. It was definitely a match that was winnable, for sure, and we were right there. I was really happy and proud of the effort."
MacEwan seemed certain to force a fifth set when they led the fourth 20-13, but they finished with a slate of errors and conceded a 12-3 run to drop it instead. Wandler noted that's a teachable moment and they'll be better next time.
"It just kind of slipped through our fingers," he said. "I told them in the dressing room after that we're going to have to remember that because we're going to come across it again and we're going to be in that situation. Now, we know how to deal with it differently."
With the result, Trinity Western improves to 18-4, while MacEwan drops to 11-11.
Both teams finish the regular season on Feb. 16-17 with the Griffins hosting UBC Okanagan and TWU on the road to visit Calgary.
Both will then head to the playoffs on the Feb. 23-25 weekend. If they playoffs started today, the Griffins, currently sixth in Canada West, would head back to Langley, B.C. for a best-of-three series as the Spartans are third.
