MacEwan Athletics and UBC Athletics
VANCOUVER – Passing woes again hampered the Griffins women's volleyball team in a straight-sets defeat the two-time defending national champion UBC Thunderbirds on Saturday night.
The U SPORTS No. 1 won 25-15, 25-16, 25-15 to go into the semester break with a 10-0 record, while MacEwan is at 0-10 after a spectacularly tough first half schedule.
"It was again the same story – our first contact," said Griffins head coach Chris Wandler. "We didn't pass the ball well enough to run any offence and it makes it really hard to do that when that happens."
Arden Butler stood out for MacEwan, leading the team with nine kills on a .300 hitting percentage, adding six digs, a block and accounting for 9.5 points. Renee Jodoin had 16 assists and two kills in her second start of the season filling in for injured starter Payton Shimoda.
"Arden had a good match today," said Wandler. "She's had four good matches in a row offensively – produced pretty well."
Akash Grewal led the way for UBC with a season-high 13 kills on a sterling .524 hitting percentage. Olivia Furlan played as an outside hitter once again and put up nine kills, four digs, two blocks and three aces, while Trinity Solecki added 10 kills, four digs, three blocks and two aces.
The T-Birds started the first set down 3-1, before Solecki notched a kill and block on successive plays to tie it up. The two teams went back and forth throughout the first half of the set, before the T-Birds suddenly created separation and pulled away.
Tied at 10 points apiece, kills from Solecki and Furlan put UBC into the lead. That began what turned into a 15-5 run to close the set, with six different T-Birds getting kills on the board during that stretch. Kylee Glanville landed an ace to make it 23-14 for the home team, before Ella Ungemach ended the set a couple points later with a kill off the bench.
"We were in it for 10 points and then good teams take over and that's exactly what happened," said Wandler.
Arden Butler led the @MacEwanGriffins with nine kills, including this one late in the third set, in a 3-0 loss to @USPORTS_VBall No. 1 @ubctbirds.#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/8wSjzTaO3u
— GriffinsWVB (@GriffinsWVB) December 1, 2024
The Thunderbirds had a bit of a slow start again in the second, before a kill and an ace from Emelie Silovs put them in front 8-5. Jocelyn Lenarcic forced a MacEwan timeout with a kill that made it 11-6, part of a 7-1 run for the T-Birds that put them in control.
The Griffins did fight back and cut the deficit to just three, but UBC answered right back with another run of their own. A kill from Silovs made it 18-11, and the blue and gold cruised from there. Glanville ended the set with an ace, one of 13 on the night for the Thunderbirds.
With the chance to finish off the match, the 'Birds came out flying in the third, going up 10-3 off a kill from Furlan. Another ace from Silovs, one of a career-high four for her on the night, made it 15-6 and UBC never looked back from there. Furlan earned the final point of the night at 25-15 with a kill.
The Griffins plan to reset for a second semester that won't be as tough as the first.
"We'll lick our wounds with getting some bodies back – Kara (Frith) and Payton for the second half," said Wandler. "And trying to mend our game or find our game.
"There's slow little things we're good at for short periods of time, but it's the resolve to really keep that going for a whole set, for a whole 25 points, not just 13. It's trying to find a little bit of that in our game, too."
They're back in action on Jan. 17-18 at Saskatchewan.
"Nowhere to go but up," said Wandler of the second semester. "Hopefully, the lessons learned (pay off). You get tougher and better by sharpening iron with iron. That's my belief. Hopefully the tough times lead us to better ones in the second half."
