EDMONTON – It’s a tall task for the MacEwan Griffins to try and beat the No.2 ranked team in the country, and they battled hard, but they were simply overpowered by the Alberta Golden Bears.
But, despite the three-set loss (25-16, 25-19, 25-20), on Saturday at the David Atkinson Gym, the Griffins can draw some positives from their latest loss.
Gorman led the Griffins with 11 kills and four digs, while Alexander Lyndon had 18 assists in the loss as MacEwan fell to 0-20 this season.
Alberta was led by their powerful 1-2 punch of Isaac Heslinga and Jacob Sargent who had 10 kills each. Heslinga also chipped in with five digs as the Golden Bears improved to 15-5 this year.
After the Griffins pushed Alberta to the limit in the second set on Friday, the Golden Bears came out firing in the opening set, leading the entire distance and as a team, put together a .550 hitting percentage as they seemed to score at will.
Alberta led the entire distance again in the second set, but MacEwan was able to keep the gap a little closer, as they kept chipping away at the Golden Bears.
A Daylan Andison kill, cut Alberta’s lead to 18-15, but that would be as close as MacEwan could get in the second set.
In the third set, Alberta was able to take their first lead in the very early stages, and a big block from Jonah Karsten tied the set at 8-8, and despite being down two sets, the Griffins put up a strong fight in the third set and didn’t lay down easy.
A kill from Gorman and a service ace from Alexander Lyndon trimmed Alberta’s lead to 22-19, and then another big kill from Gorman made it 23-20, but Liam Espedido finished the match with a powerful service ace.
Against a team like Alberta, MacEwan’s lack of size compared to the Golden Bears played a big factor as it changes how teams attack when they’re facing strong powerful middles who certainly don’t lack height.
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