Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON – Bittersweet is an apt way to describe the Griffins' mood following a straight sets defeat to the Alberta Golden Bears in Canada West men's volleyball action on Saturday night at the Saville Centre.

Sweet because they narrowly lost (25-20, 27-25, 25-23) and pushed the No. 3-ranked team in U SPORTS, but bitter because the match was there for the taking against a program that they've never beaten and they weren't able to do it.

They probably deserved a better fate.

"It's tough," said head coach Brad Poplawski. "I don't know if 'deserved' is the word, but I thought we put in the work, the preparation and the attention to detail tonight to have given ourselves that opportunity. Obviously, U of A was just able to find those two points in the last two sets where it was basically tooth-and-nail the whole set.

"There's a lot I'm happy with, but it still just stings. When you have those opportunities against really good teams to not seize it, it kind of leaves a bad taste in the mouth."

Jefferson Morrow led the Griffins with eight kills and four digs, while Alexei Walisser had seven kills and Carsten Bergeron produced five kills and five blocks.

With the result, the Griffins will close out the first semester with a 1-7 record, while Alberta goes to 8-0. They now head into a lengthy break before returning to action on Jan. 21-22 at Mount Royal University.
"The one thing with the break is it gives us a chance to get healthy again," said Poplawski. "Ty Jodoin got injured in the match in the first set. We tried to throw a few wrinkles at U of A and give them a different look – something we haven't done this year and go with some different options. Unfortunately, Ty got injured in the first set.

"Ethan Nashim came in and did some good things for us, but with Alex being out and with him getting injured … I think we'd like to keep playing, but it does give us a chance to get healthy and a little stronger over the break."