Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Dusty Freimark was grateful her team had the opportunity to play in a set decided by extra points against the Alberta Pandas on Saturday night at the Saville Centre.
Although the MacEwan Griffins women's volleyball team dropped the marathon set 28-26, en route to a 3-0 (25-17, 28-26, 25-18) loss, it was a moment they'll be able to build on.
"The biggest, best thing that came out of that is you can't simulate what it's like to serve when it's 26-26," said the Griffins' interim head coach. "You're doing it against a team has the culture of winning. I know the Pandas this year aren't achieving what they're used to, but they still come with that winning mentality. So, I was really happy we got that opportunity, even if it was just in one set to see what it feels like."
Freimark noted the 3-0 loss Saturday was a big improvement for the Griffins over the 3-0 defeat on Friday to the Pandas.
"I think that we worked really hard," she said. "We've had some really tough conversations within the team. I think the girls responded tonight, so I'm just very excited to see what we can do moving forward here.
"I know the season hasn't been what we want, but we're still growing, we're still moving and we're still looking forward. Not one person on this team is quitting."
With the result, the Griffins fall to 2-16, while the Pandas improve to 8-10 on the Canada West campaign.
Lauryn Tremblay led Alberta with 17 kills and three blocks, while Laila Johnston chipped in 12 kills.
Mariah Bereziuk led MacEwan with 11 kills and accounted for 13.0 points, while Andi Krawec had eight kills and five blocks.
"Our middles Emma (Brooks) and Sarah (McGee) did a really good job," said Freimark. "Mariah did a good job for us tonight."
Ultimately, they just fell behind too much early on and couldn't rally back.
"We have this bad habit of digging ourselves a hole and we still haven't figured out what or how that looks like," said Freimark. "I think tonight in post-meetings, we found some possible solutions to that. I'm just really proud of the girls wanting to continually move forward and grow. We have three more matches this season and we know those matches are crucial to what our years in the future are going to look like.
"The message at the end of that game was 'yes, we're happy with some of our play, but let's not kid ourselves in the fact that we're happy with the end result.'
"It's not enough for us just to be in the game."
The Griffins head into a bye week before returning to action against Thompson Rivers on Feb. 3-4 at the David Atkinson Gym.
