Jason Hills
For MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON — They didn’t end up with the W, but the MacEwan Griffins can certainly take a lot of positives out of a hard-fought battle against the defending U SPORTS champion Alberta Golden Bears.
One night after pushing Alberta hard in two sets, the Griffins pulled off a set win, but fell in four sets (15-25, 22-25, 25-20, 15-25) on Saturday afternoon at the David Atkinson gym.
Mitchell Croft led MacEwan with 18 kills and three digs, while Daylan Andison chipped in with seven kills and two digs. Kenneth Ang recorded 26 assists and six in his second-career start for MacEwan in the loss.
Isaac Heslinga led Alberta with 24 kills on a .541 hitting percentage, while Matt Shand had eight kills in the Golden Bears victory.
“There is a lot of stuff we can build off, and it’s nice to get a set off them, but at the end of the day, we didn’t win — it still sucks,” said Andison.
“We were hoping to push them more in the fourth set. It was close until the 9-10 point mark, and then they went on a run. We had some lack of communication with seams and shot ourselves in the foot somewhat, and our energy wasn’t great after that.”
Despite the weekend sweep at the hands of the Golden Bears, the Griffins showed in five of the seven sets that they can compete and stick with a perennial national championship calibre team like Alberta.
The Griffins, who have had to juggle lineups in every match this season due to injuries played hard, and battled. Despite being down 2-0, they put together one of their best sets of the season.
In the third set, Alberta held the lead, but MacEwan wasn’t going anywhere. A kill from Andison made it 12-11, and their first lead of the set.
Croft came through with two big kills, and Ang followed up with a nice block to give MacEwan a 17-16 lead.
Alberta was able to retake the lead for a short time, but once Croft gave the Griffins a 20-19 lead after a nice tip, MacEwan went on a run to win the set, capped off by a block from Croft and an ace from Andison.
“I think they’ve only lost two sets this season, so I think that speaks,” said Andison.
“Once we saw the block and we’re comfortable against it, and everybody got their first kill, we realized we can play with these guys.
“When we’re playing our best, we can be a really good team, we just have to try and stay at that level all the time, instead of going through those lapses. That’s where we end up shooting ourselves and getting down sets.”
On Friday, Ang made his U SPORTS debut replacing setter Mason Natras, who was out with injury, and on Saturday, the Griffins got some good news as Jarod Inia, who had yet to play this season due to injury made his debut.
Daylan Laszlo, and Spencer Loucks also saw more floor time this weekend and they found ways to chip in and contribute.
“The guys coming into our starting lineup did great. I thought Ken set a great game, and he was getting a lot of touches on blocks. I thought Spence (Spencer Loucks) had a great offensive game and got some blocks for us as well,” said Andison.
“Jarod came in and got his first U SPORTS experience and got his first kill.
“It’s not ideal with all the injuries we’ve faced, but everyone has come in and did their job and battled.”
Inia, who transferred from NAIT this year saw action in all four sets, and recorded one kill in his debut.
“My first U SPORTS game… it was exciting…” said Inia.
“The third set was great. We came together as a team, and kept chipping away at them, and we were able to get that set win, which is a nice confidence boost for us.
“Every week, our team is improving and we’re piecing things together and we’re building a really great foundation. I think we can bring this into the next semester and really have some success.”