Jason Hills
For MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON — It was an unlucky 13 for the MacEwan Griffins women's volleyball team.
Facing the nationally-ranked and powerhouse University of Alberta Pandas, the Griffins knew they'd be in tough, and Alberta's depth and experience showed as MacEwan fell in straight sets (25-12, 25-15, 25-12) o Friday night at the David Atkinson Gym.
The Griffins are 0-13 this season, while Alberta improved to 12-1.
The young duo of Erica Bolink and Mariah Bereziuk led MacEwan with six kills each, while Bereziuk also chipped in with three digs.
Fifth-year outside hitter Kory White led the powerhouse Pandas with 14 kills and three digs, while third-year outside hitter Lauryn Tremblay had nine kills and eight digs for Alberta.
"We got schooled. That's what a good disciplined team does when they're two weeks out from playoffs," said Griffins head coach Ken Briggs.
"They were on a different level tonight. It's tough, because we knew what they were bringing, and we couldn't execute defensively.
"There were times where we could do everything perfectly and they still would find a way to score."
The Griffins fell behind big early in the opening set as Alberta jumped out to a quick 7-1 lead.
MacEwan would cut the Pandas lead to 8-4, but then the Pandas turned up the heat and went on 8-0 run, courtesy of an ace for Erin Corbett and some supreme blocking from fifth-year middle Vanessa Jarman and Tremblay.
Through the three sets, MacEwan would commit 20 attack errors, to just 18 total team kills.
"We worked on serve and receive a lot this week, but for whatever reason, it wasn't transferring over. We didn't execute," said third-year middle Dana Dunbar.
"Attack-wise we struggled. Once you get blocked, there's that little voice in the back of your head saying if you hit hard again, it will get blocked and I think we'd take a little off the ball (the next time), and we didn't commit to fully swinging or attacking the net."
Volleyball is a game of momentum swings, and MacEwan got off to a better start in the second set as they battled back and forth in the early stages, but once again the Pandas ripped the momentum away and just simply didn't give it back.
MacEwan trailed just 8-6, but then allowed Alberta to go on a 13-4 run, and that big hole was simply too deep to overcome.
"(Alberta)'s just at another level, and I hope we learn from this each and every time," said Briggs.
The third set was similar to the opening set as Alberta jumped out to another 7-1 lead and they controlled the play the rest of the way.
A big kill from Dunbar made it 18-8, but the Pandas went on a 7-2 run to close out the set, thanks to some strong serving from Corbett, who led Alberta with four aces.
"It's tough being in this situation in a sense, because I've been on this team where in the past we've just defied odds and won games, but this year, it's been a struggle where we just can't seem to get things going," said Dunbar.
"We just have to keep learning from these experiences and try each and every game to be better."
MacEwan will wrap up their cross-town rival series against Alberta, on Saturday at 5 p.m. (David Atkinson Gym, Canada West TV presented by Co-op).
