MacEwan Athletics and Alberta Athletics
EDMONTON – Too much Taryq Sani for a second-straight night led to a 3-0 defeat for the MacEwan Griffins men's volleyball team at Alberta on Sunday.
The second-year outside hitter and teammate Alex McMullin each recorded a game-high 11 kills as the Golden Bears romped to a 25-12, 25-20, 25-21 win to sweep the Griffins after a 3-1 victory on Saturday.
Outside hitters Kai Hesthammer (fourth-year) and Jordan Peters (second-year) tallied seven kills apiece for the Griffins, while sophomore setter Jonathan Mohler netted a team-high 14 assists. Middle Kornel Kowalewski was MacEwan's most efficient player with a .375 percentage over three sets, recording five kills and three blocks. The Griffins went deep into the bench in the match, using 12 players.
They were without star middle Max Vriend for a second-straight evening as he remains in concussion protocol after suffering an injury during training.
The Golden Bears came out strong, earning a 6-2 run to begin the opening set and following with a six-point run shortly after with setter Max Elgert making half of them with aces.
Despite a 19-7 lead, Alberta had some struggles closing out the set, the Griffins staying alive for five more points but a failed MacEwan block error gave the home team a 1-0 set lead.
The middle set was more of an even battle, neither squad getting more than a three-point lead until the Bears managed to put together a four-point string to find a five-point lead that propelled them towards winning the second set after a Jackson Kennedy ace landed in front of Hesthammer.
A 7-2 run broke an early 3-3 tie in the final set, Alberta scoring another six consecutive points not much later to spot themselves a 15-7 lead, but the Griffins refused to give up easily.
Going point-for-point to hit 21-12, MacEwan unleashed an 8-2 run to get within three points of the 2016-17 U SPORTS silver medalists, but Sani put an end to the proceedings, the Golden Bears leading scorer in kills finding court down the sideline for the match point.
The Griffins (0-4) head into a bye weekend before hosting UBC-Okanagan (0-4) on Nov. 10-11.
