Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – With one of the largest crowds ever in the David Atkinson Gym, the MacEwan Griffins women's volleyball team went through a key learning curve against one of the top teams in Canada West on Friday night.
With nearly 700 fans in attendance, cheering for both sides of the Edmonton rivalry, the Alberta Pandas won 3-0 (25-11, 25-17, 25-16).
"We battled at times, just not consistently," said MacEwan head coach Ken Briggs. "We had some good breakout performances at different times. We certainly showed we had some depth when we struggled.
"We had a lot of kids in for their first-ever taste of Canada West action. The atmosphere was terrific. The crowd was so excited to be there."
Twelve different Griffins saw action in the match, eight of them for the first time in their Canada West careers. Rookie Erica Bolink led the Griffins with eight kills, while second-year Mariah Bereziuk had seven.
"Mariah really swung well," said Briggs of one of the only players on the MacEwan roster who saw action in 2019-20, in the playoffs, no less. "She's playing a new position and she's got a new opportunity to be the go-to. She's got a long way to go in her all-around (game), but she attacked very, very well."
He was also impressed with liberos Jordyn Thomas (led the team with 11 digs) and Megan Foxcroft, both also returners from last season.
Alberta was led by Julia Zonneveld, who had nine kills, while Erin Corbett chipped in eight and three service aces, part of a wicked Alberta serving attack that caused the Griffins problems.
"There were great rallies and great defensive plays and swings, etc., but they usually came out on top of the rallies," said Briggs. "Eventually, they were going to make the smart shot, the experienced shot. And they gave us a lesson at the service line. If you look at the stats they missed one and we missed 12."
The teams will meet again on Saturday (2 p.m., David Atkinson Gym, Canada West TV presented by Co-op). Can the Griffins put some lessons in play that they've learned?
"It showed our team the bar of where we were and how far we have to go against an experienced team," said Briggs of Friday's loss.
"Tons to build on. Now it's 'can we build?' or every time we go on the court do we start from scratch?"
