MacEwan Athletics
VANCOUVER – It's one thing to lose and have nothing of value to take out of it.
It's quite another when you lose after putting the No. 2-ranked men's volleyball team in USPORTS on their heels by winning the opening set.
The MacEwan Griffins will have plenty to take from Saturday's 3-1 defeat (22-25, 25-13, 25-18, 25-19) against the UBC Thunderbirds.
"We had a little different lineup with a few wrinkles and the guys did a good job siding out," said Griffins head coach Brad Poplawski of claiming the opening set. "We executed what we wanted to do. They served good seams, they blocked in the right zone and we were able to defend a little bit.
"Their errors helped in the first set, for sure. They played much cleaner after that. It was obviously a good first set for us."
UBC took over the match in the second set when hard-serving Irvan Brar – who had six service aces – and Bryon Keturakis continued to put the Griffins out of system with massive jump spin serves.
"They have a guy who has one of the best serves I've ever seen," said Poplawski. "Irvan Brar just tears the absolute cover off the ball. You basically can't replicate that without a serving machine.
"It's kind of funny to say with six errors that we did a good job, but at times we actually passed it OK and then we'd make a hitting error and then he'd get another chance to serve and he'd get an ace.
"With, him, (Keith) West and Keturakis, they have three absolute bombs and you just don't see that all the time."
At times, the Griffins' serves looked better, but they still didn't put near enough pressure on the UBC defence to make a difference.
"We still missed way too many serves," said Poplawski. "Our jump servers have to do a better job. We have to do a better job serving as a team. Serving's an individual act, but it has to fit within the team structure. We don't do a good enough job."
Brar was a monster for UBC, as usual, with 13 kills, the aces and two blocks, accounting for a game-high 21.0 points. Keturakis had a game-high 39 assists, and Jordan Deshane had nine kills on .667 efficiency, adding four blocks.
MacEwan was led by Max Vriend, who had nine kills, four blocks and an ace, but he hit at .000 efficiency. Rookie Ryan Zachary had eight kills, but also fired at .000. Middle Kornel Kowalewski was .800 efficient in limited work, drilling four kills on five attempts. Jonathan Mohler had 28 assists.
Poplawski had talked beforehand of the great learning experience for the Griffins squaring off against a team that could very well be in the national final in March. It didn't disappoint.
"I think it's massive," he said. "As a coach, I liked the adjustments we were able to make from Friday to Saturday. We played some guys in different positions, we did some things schematically different. Our blocking schemes didn't really change. We executed them better.
"I think it's important we're able to do that – to watch film and execute some of the things we talked about," he added. "Don't get me wrong. They're the number 2 team in the country. That doesn't happen by a fluke. They're the definition of a veteran team, so they can do some things pretty well.
"We don't want to be a team that just competes, but at the same time I'm proud of the way our guys competed tonight."
The Griffins (1-9) will host Trinity Western (9-1) – the No. 1-ranked team in USPORTS – on Dec. 1-2.
