Jason Hills
For MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – After getting bit hard by the injury bug, the MacEwan Griffins have had to deal with some adversity in the early stages of this season, but they’re handling it the best way they possibly can – with a next-man-up mentality.
With as many as seven players out of their lineup in last weekend’s series sweep to the Saskatchewan Huskies, the Griffins aren’t focusing on the number of missing personnel in their lineup.
“We can’t change the adversity that we’re going through, but we’re using it as an opportunity for some of our guys to step up and take on a bigger role. We have some guys who have been part of the program for a few years now, and they’re going to get more of an opportunity,” said Griffins head coach Brad Poplawski.
“We’re going to get one guy back, and we’re heading in the right direction of getting healthy. The AT staff have worked so hard for us, and the guys have been doing everything they can to try to get back on the floor.”
The Griffins (0-4) are in Abbotsford, B.C. this weekend for games against the UFV Cascades (1-3) on Friday (7 p.m. MT) and Saturday (6 p.m. MT, both Canada West TV) to take on the Fraser Valley Cascades (1-3).
Last weekend against Saskatchewan, the Griffins couldn’t even prepare properly as some of the injury news from both games came just a few hours before the first serve of the match. This week, the team knew their injury situation and could get a full week of practice in.
The Cascades are paced by Jonas Van Huizen, who leads the team with 63 kills. He also leads the team with seven service aces and Nimo Benne isn’t far behind with six service aces.
“They’re one of the best serving teams in our conference. They do a lot of damage on the baseline, and they have five spin servers,” said Poplawski.
“We got to see up close and personal. They’re a very dynamic serving team that put a ton of pressure on you from the baseline.”
The Griffins split a weekend non-conference series against UFV on Sept. 28-29, winning the ‘Anything but a Blue Team Cup’ by taking a golden set against them on the second night to break the tie.
The biggest key for the Griffins is to make sure their serve-receive game is clicking strong, especially against a team that can serve the ball as well as UFV. When MacEwan passes well, they can get their offence clicking, and be able to counter punch against the Cascades strong service game.
“For us, it all starts on the baseline. You can show them different looks and move guys around, but at the end of the day, you must defend. When a ball is in the zone, we’ve got to pass it,” said Poplawski.