Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
CALGARY – A slow start cost the MacEwan Griffins men's volleyball team in a straight-sets loss to the Calgary Dinos on Friday night.
At least they can take some positives out of it.
The set scores got progressively better as the match went on (25-12, 25-19, 25-20) and two first-year players came up with big performances.
"I think for sure, we definitely did get better as the match (went on), but as a coach, I don't know what I'm doing to not have them ready to play," said MacEwan bench boss Brad Poplawski in reflection. "That's what concerns me a bit because that's kind of been a trend this year – the first set we come out really slow. We've got to figure out why that is and make adjustments that way.
"I was happy with the response. We didn't fold, we didn't get down on ourselves we didn't get mad, we went back to work."
The difference in hitting efficiency is the story as the Griffins went from -.120 in the opening set to .310 and .200 in the last two sets, respectively.
"The score in that (first) set, Calgary did some good things, but a lot of it was self-inflicted," said Poplawski. "We had some pretty good looks and we had some good swings but we were pulling pinballs out of bounds, we were putting balls in the net. We just looked very nervy to start. Then we kind of settled in and played a little bit better."
Efficiency numbers were pushed up by ACAC transfers Ethan Nashim and Alexei Walisser, who both finished in double digits for kills (14 and 11, respectively). Fellow ACAC transfer Alexander Lyndon added 23 assists.
"They were definitely the offensive guys for us today," said Poplawski. "It's the first time we've had a guy in double digits for a while in kills, so that was nice to see.
"Even after having an up and down first set – I think Ethan was four kills, four errors – to finish with a good efficiency (.333) and 14 kills was a real positive for us. Hopefully he can build on that – this was only his third U SPORTS game ever, so he's learning the league. Same with Alexei.
"I definitely think there were some positive signs from tonight's game. We still have a lot to improve on, but I think there are some takeaways, for sure."
With the loss, the Griffins fall to 0-3 in the standings, while the Dinos move to 3-0. The teams will meet again on Saturday night (5 p.m., Canada West TV presented by Co-op).
