Jason Hills
For MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON — It's never easy losing in straight sets on back-to-back nights, but the MacEwan Griffins women's volleyball team can certainly take a lot of positives from their 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-16) loss to the University of Alberta Pandas, Saturday night at the David Atkinson Gym.
Second-year outside hitter Mariah Bereziuk led MacEwan with 11 kills and four digs, while first-year outside hitter Alyshia Bryks recorded eight kills and three digs.
Fifth-year outside hitter Kory White led Alberta with 18 kills, five digs and one ace, while fifth-year outside hitter Erin Corbett recorded nine kills and eight digs and two aces in the victory.
"Our compete level was way better and our passing was day and night compared to last night, but we're still not finishing on the plays we need to," said Griffins first-year setter Payton Shimoda.
Slow starts in sets have plagued MacEwan this year, but the Griffins came out strong and battled hard against one of the perennial national championship contenders.
In the opening set, the Griffins held a 10-9 lead after a kill from Shimoda. A nice dig from Shimoda led to a big kill from Bereziuk cut the Pandas lead to 15-12, but Alberta was able to go on a 11-4 run to take full control of the set.
"We had some kinks in certain rotations that they were able to take advantage of," said Shimoda.
"Some teams have been able to get those little runs on us, and if we resolve that, we'll be able to turn this around."
In the second set, the Griffins continued to push Alberta and were tied 10-10 after some strong play from Bryks, who entered the game. Her strong attack gave MacEwan another weapon against the Pandas.
Some strong blocking from first-year middle Sarah McGee tied the set at 13-13, but the experience of the Pandas showed off once again as they went on another 11-5 run to close out the set.
"Tonight, there were a lot of positives against a team that we're not supposed to beat," said Griffins head coach Ken Briggs.
"We changed some things in practice this morning and we executed much better. We still have those pressure moments where they feel rushed and that leads to some mistakes, but we made (Alberta) earn it, and that's all I can ask for."
Briggs was pleased with the play of his young core group of players in the loss.
McGee finished with three kills, two kills and one block, while third year middle Dana Dunbar was a force at the net, recording four blocks to go along with two kills.
"Our middles so often go unnoticed, but their blocking tonight was outstanding," said Briggs.
"Alysha (Bryks) coming in made a big difference in our attack, and I felt that Payton (Shimoda) made some really good choices distributing the ball."
Despite losing in straight sets, MacEwan was in striking distance of winning every set. They just had moments where they would allow Alberta to go snag the momentum and go on a run to give them breathing room.
It happened in each set.
MacEwan came out very strong in the third set and held the lead for a good portion of the set, but after a serve error that gave Alberta their first lead, they would go on an 8-2 run to give them a 20-14 lead and MacEwan wasn't able to recover.
"We have to keep believing that we will turn this around," said Briggs.
"The amount of adjustments we made from last night to improve our game was very good to see. We just have to believe that those tension moments where we let things slip will be fixed over time."
MacEwan will travel to take on the Mount Royal Cougars next weekend in Calgary, and then close out their regular season the following weekend at home against the University of Calgary Dinos.
