After celebrating a big win, Griffins quickly shift gears to preparations for Golden Bears

Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON – Smile, relish the moment and move onto the next one.

That’s been the attitude of the MacEwan Griffins men’s volleyball team after celebrating their first win of the season – a thrilling 3-2 triumph over the UFV Cascades last Saturday.

“I think the guys did a good job enjoying the win and I thought heading into this week our focus has been on what’s next? That’s been a big thing for us,” explained Griffins head coach Brad Poplawski. “It was really nice for them because we’ve been close so many times this year. 

“On Monday, guys watched the match from Saturday, and we talked about things we did well, things we can improve on. Obviously, it’s a new challenge this week with U of A.”

The Griffins will visit their cross-town rivals on Friday (7:30 p.m.) and Saturday (5 p.m., both Saville Centre, Canada West TV).

“Obviously, they’re the No. 1 team in the country,” said Poplawski of the Alberta Golden Bears. “They’re riding a 15-game heater, so they’re obviously playing some really good volleyball. But I think the guys are excited for this challenge and the opportunity. 

“It’s at their gym, typically it’s a really good crowd with the two Edmonton teams, so it’s a really fun atmosphere. We know their level and we need to perform at our best and go into the weekend performing as well as we can, just due to the quality of our opponent.”

The Griffins are certainly trending in the right direction, with their hard work, particularly on their blocking game, paying off last weekend.

“I don’t think any of us were happy with how we blocked in Manitoba, so that was a huge emphasis for us last week,” said Poplawski. “It didn’t show on Friday, but on Saturday was probably one of our strongest blocking performances of the year. The better your block is, the better your defence can play behind it because now you’re stable and solid. I think we had a ton of digs as well. That was nice – when you work hard at something, and it shows in the results.”

The win (3-2 after a 15-13 victory in Set 5) was also a big weight off their shoulders after so many close losses this season.

“I think for that mental piece (it was big),” said Poplawski. “Again, we haven’t had the success we’ve wanted in a lot of fifth sets this year. We’ve given ourselves those opportunities, we just haven’t capitalized. When we had it tied at 13-all in that fifth set, I really liked our response. It didn’t feel panicky, and it didn’t feel like we were out of control.

“We talked a lot about patience. We want to be aggressive, but stay patient. Those things can sound counter-intuitive, but our team understood what we meant by that – staying aggressive, but also not forcing the issue. It paid off in getting a win. 

“That process piece … I think the guys did a good job with that and it’s something we want to continue to build on.”