MacEwan Athletics and TRU Athletics

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – They're learning and growing on the job.

Playing in the second game of their Canada West careers, Griffins men's volleyball freshmen Caleb Weiss and Ryan Zachary made large impacts on Saturday night, even if their team was on the losing side of the leger – 3-1 (25-20, 25-19, 23-25, 26-24) at the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack.

Setter Weiss had a game-high 37 assists and nine digs for the Griffins, while outside hitter Zachary had 10 kills and nine digs.

Fourth-year Griffins outside hitter Kai Hesthammer led MacEwan for the second-straight night with 12 kills, while third-year middle Max Vriend had eight kills on a .538 hitting percentage and was in on a game-high five blocks.

For the second-straight match, though, TRU's big German import Tim Dobbert put in a truly dominant effort with 23 kills, accounting for a whopping 26.5 of TRU's points in the match.  

"It's fun," said Dobbert, who transferred in from the NCAA's BYU this season. "I am glad the season has started.

"It was a good team that we played. I think there wasn't a big difference between the two matches. We played well in the first two sets and then had to fight back in the fourth."

The Griffins (0-2) return home to regroup and prepare for their home opener vs. cross-town rival Alberta next Saturday (6:30 p.m., Atkinson Gym).