Birkholz reaches milestone and Croft shines in position switch, but Griffins fall 3-1 to Heat

Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics 

KELOWNA, B.C. – There was plenty to be proud of, even if the MacEwan Griffins men’s volleyball team fell 3-1 to the UBC Okanagan Heat on Saturday night.

First year Mitchell Croft continues to look like a veteran in rookie’s clothing with an impressive match-high 17 kills on a .378 percentage, accounting for a match-high 18.5 points. And he was playing out of position, no less, switching to the left side for the game.

“He was awesome,” said Griffins head coach Brad Poplawski. “He’s typically been an opposite for us, and we put him on the left side. It just gave us a completely different look. For really not having done that often, he passed awesome and led us offensively in a huge way. 

“He’s a first year in name only. He has so much experience and just brings so much to the team that way. Really, really good game from him tonight.”

Meanwhile, middle blocker Seth Birkholz became the sixth player in MacEwan’s Canada West history to reach 100 career blocks with his first of four on the night.   

“That’s a cool individual number for him to get to 100,” said Griffins head coach Brad Poplawski. “We want him to keep going and get to 200. Proud of him for that. I think that’s a cool feather in his cap. If we have guys accomplishing those things, hopefully that’s going to lead to team success.”

What they did on Saturday is put building blocks in place for future team success. While the loss (25-18, 20-25, 25-19, 25-18) drops them to 0-4 in the Canada West standings, it was an improved effort over the 3-0 defeat on Friday.

“I thought last night we really just got in our own way a lot,” said Poplawski, who made some adjustments, moving Croft to the left side and starting rookie Sawyer Wishlow at opposite.

“At times, we were better tonight, for sure. Just our preparation and our compete level was raised much, much higher. Obviously not enough to get the win, but way better as far as controlling some of the controllables, like our preparation, our talk and our discipline.”

M��| SET 2
Daylan Andison with a deft left-handed tip to the front corner sets up a 25-20 win for @GriffinsMVB in the second set, which ties the match 1-1 with @UBCOHeat.#GriffNation@CanadaWest pic.twitter.com/AftdU4ip42

— MacEwan Griffins (@MacEwanGriffins) October 27, 2024

Of course, there is a lot to work on if the Griffins hope to push for a playoff spot this season.

“I think at times we still panic and we have to become better at solving problems,” said Poplawski. “We look a little disorganized, but that’s to be expected with 10 new guys and two starters out (Jonah Karsten and Jared Inia). It’s not something I didn’t expect, but I just think we need to speed this process up of playing together.

“I think we just have to learn from it. Some of the technical things we’re doing are improving, but we have to speed that process up.”

The Griffins head into a bye week before returning to action at home against cross-town rival Alberta Nov. 8-9.