Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
CALGARY – The injury bug forced the Griffins women's volleyball team to adjust for a second-straight day, giving another player her first-ever Canada West start.
Although the result was another 3-0 loss to the veteran Mount Royal University Cougars (25-14, 25-10, 25-23) on Saturday, the Griffins can lean on improvements made and the perseverance shown through a weekend without some of their top players.
"We had to go to Plan C," said head coach Ken Briggs after Friday night new right-side fill-in Arden Butler suffered an injury. "Sarah (McGee), one of our middles, played right side. And Lauren (Tensen) got to start her first-ever Canada West game in the middle. So we had lots of firsts this weekend."
The result gave the Cougars (8-2) a weekend sweep over the Griffins (0-10).
"Good energy, execution was still a little iffy," assessed Briggs. "It's just inconsistent because you're adding more pieces to the puzzle. We improved – passed way better. We made some nice adjustments in practice on serve-receive. We made some blocking adjustments and did a better job, but in the end, we're fighting an uphill battle.
"I was proud of the fight and certainly heard encouraging remarks from them as far as 'OK, we realize it was OK, but once everybody's back here as the next week goes on, it will be hard for the other team to prep for us next weekend.' "
McGee led the Griffins with five kills and four blocks, while Tensen produced three kills and three blocks with a team-leading .500 hitting percentage. Payton Shimoda had 14 assists and five digs.
MRU was led Haley Rode (10 kills on .600 efficiency) and Madison Marshall (nine kills and four digs). Still serving tough, winning the ace battle 9-3, the Griffins at least clawed back better in serve-receive from Friday when they were beaten 14-0 in that category.
"We made improvements in things we set out to improve," said Briggs. "We changed our serve receive, we changed the blocking. Even with the new people, those things were successful, so in the end it was just the execution mistakes we've been making.
"When you think about it, you're missing some key pieces and whatever. The group that was out there did the best they could. They learned a lot and that's all we can get out of it."
The Griffins return home for a pair of matches vs. Calgary on Jan. 28-29.
