Jason Hills
For MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON — The MacEwan Griffins women's volleyball team may have felt like they let a victory slip away in their rematch against the Calgary Dinos.
One night after a heartbreaking five-set defeat, the Griffins could take lots of positives from, they likely felt a win was in their grasp — but they took a step back, losing in straight sets (25-20, 25-23, 25-22) Saturday night at the David Atkinson Gym.
Second-year outside hitter Mariah Bereziuk led the Griffins with 12 kills and five digs, while first-year outside hitter Erica Bolink recorded nine kills and four digs in the loss.
Fourth-year outside hitter Kenzie Vaandering led the Dinos with 14 kills in the win.
"The scores may be close, but the scores flattered us," said Griffins head coach Ken Briggs.
"We learned a tough lesson tonight. We came out flat and we made a lot of unforced errors that cost us."
While both teams came out firing in their weekend series opener, the rematch was sloppy on both sides as they combined for 37 attack errors and 25 service errors.
MacEwan came out in the opening set and fell behind early. The Dinos kept the lead virtually the full set.
A couple of Dinos serve errors cut Calgary's lead to MacEwan cutting into the lead, and Bolnik came through with a big kill to finish off a rally to 15-14 for the Dinos, but they weren't able to go on a run to close out the set.
"We weren't able to make that big push tonight, and moving forward we have to minimize our enforced errors. We made too many tonight," said Bereziuk, who made her return to the lineup this weekend in impressive fashion.
"We're a young team, and I think when we make mistakes, we get in our heads a little bit too much."
MacEwan looked to turn things around in the second set, as they led for most of the set, but the Dinos just simply wouldn't be put away. MacEwan wasn't able to hold more than a two-point lead, and Calgary took their first lead 17-16, and held on for a 25-23 lead, in a set that was tied 13 times.
"Last night, we had a lot of positive energy and that really got us going, but we just didn't have that same energy tonight," said first-year outside hitter Rachel Perry.
"Both teams made a lot of mistakes, and unfortunately when they made mistakes, we just didn't capitalize on them enough."
The third set was similar to the second set as both teams weren't able to really establish momentum. MacEwan led for a good portion of the third set, but wasn't able to expand their lead more than two points, and when Calgary took an 18-17 lead, they didn't relinquish it.
Late in the set, first-year outside hitter Alyshia Bryks made an acrobatic dig that led to a big kill from Bereziuk to cut the lead to 20-19, but Calgary put the game away going on a 5-1 run.
"Sometimes we feel that extra pressure when we make a mistake and we just have to go back and play it simple. Make the smart pass and execute like we can," said Perry.
"We get a little tied up with the pressure. We know what we're capable of, it's just a matter of powering through and finishing strong."
Next action is Feb.11-12 when they battle the cross-town rival Alberta Pandas in a home-and-home series.
