Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
-With files from Dinos Athletics
CALGARY – Wrapping up one of the most efficient weekends they've ever had, the MacEwan Griffins women's volleyball team completed a weekend sweep of the University of Calgary Dinos with another straight sets victory on Saturday night.
A night after hitting .301 as a team, they went .275 to record a tidy 25-23, 25-19, 25-7 victory that moves them back to .500 in the Canada West women's volleyball standings at 4-4. Calgary falls to 0-6.
"This may be the best weekend we've put together for efficiency," said head coach Ken Briggs. "Both our middles had 11 kills with two errors and both were above .400. Lauren (Holmes) had another double figure night, too.
"When you've got three of them scoring in double figures in only three sets, it's pretty good. It was a really, really good weekend."
Indeed, MacEwan's dominant middle combo of McKenna Stevenson (11 kills on .450 efficiency with four service aces and two blocks) and Haley Gilfillan (11 kills at .429 with two aces and five blocks) really drove the bus. Holmes added 11 kills on a .391 percentage to go along with two aces and a team-high 14 digs. Kylie Schubert added 35 assists.
Kenzie Vaandering and Trinity Solecki led the Dinos with nine kills apiece.
"Historically, Saturdays haven't been as good as Fridays for us until we really get going," noted Briggs. "Gradually, we settled down and just ground them down. Serve serve-receive was the big thing. We had 11 aces and only three errors. That's a big difference. Usually we'll get our five or six aces and we'll have 11 misses because we're being aggressive."
The Dinos squad came out with noticeable intensity in the opening set, battling the Griffins in a point-for-point race to 25, but defensive errors in the last two points cost them and MacEwan took a 1-0 lead in the match.
In the second set, the Dinos attackers struggled to work around the far-reaching blocks of the Griffins' front row. Scrappy coverage on blocked offence often resulted in the Dinos sending over free balls for the Griffins, allowing them to run whichever plays they pleased.
A noticeable absence in the third set for Calgary was reigning conference all-star Beth Vinnell. The Griffins used this to their advantage, continually scoring off a step attack that left Calgary's blockers off guard and back row unprepared. The Griffins then paralyzed the Dinos squad with an eight-point serving streak, eliminating Calgary's hopes of a comeback.
"We just gradually wore them down," said Briggs. "We went on a couple serving runs in that last set and we just put them away."
Now heading into a bye weekend, the Griffins (4-4) will next host the Brandon University Bobcats on Nov.22-23. Briggs is pleased the Griffins went .500 through a pretty tough gauntlet to start the campaign.
"When we saw the schedule, for sure we would (take a 4-4 record)," he said. "Going into a break is perfect. We go into a week off now and two home weekends to finish off. We're in a good place right now.
"It gives us time to rest and prep for two teams that are in our bubble that we're going to have to play against. The girls played well. Our starters did really well and our role players did a good job as well."
