Jason Hills
For MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON — The volleyball gods are sometimes just downright cruel.
The injury bug has hit the MacEwan Griffins real hard. For a second-straight night they were forced to dress an inexperienced lineup against a veteran savvy, Saskatchewan Huskies team, and they fell in straight sets (25-19, 25-16, 25-13) to drop to 0-4 this season.
“We’re two weeks into the season and we have five different guys on the floor that we had last weekend in Calgary,” said Griffins head coach Brad Poplawski.
“Unfortunately our program isn’t at a place where we can withstand that many injuries. It’s good experience for guys, but I hope they realize how far the gap is.”
Seth Birkholz and Nicholas Jabusch led the Griffins with six kills each. The Huskies were led by the dynamic duo of Isiah Mamer and Emmett Graham who had 15 and 12 kills, respectively.
MacEwan’s lineup was decimated with seven players sidelined, but like they did in the opening set on Friday, the Griffins hung in with Saskatchewan in the first set on Saturday as they battled back and forth, but just weren’t able to generate enough of a consistent offensive attack to get on a big run and take control of the set.
The Huskies’ experience showed up big in the second and third sets as they stayed in control. In the second set, the Griffins jumped out to an early lead, but it didn’t last long before Saskatchewan jumped ahead and kept the lead.
MacEwan got within 10-8, but that was as close as they’d come before losing the second set 25-16.
Saskatchewan led the third set from start to finish, and were down as many as 12 points in the final set.
“It was an opportunity to get some different guys out there, but it sucks that it’s in league play and real points are on the board,” said Poplawski.
“When three of our four captains aren’t on the floor, that makes it really tough on us.”
With all the injuries, it forced rookies Sawyer Cousins and Spencer Foxcroft into action. Players like Jabusch, Owen Johnson and Carter McDonald were given much bigger roles this weekend.
Seth Birkholz finished with six kills for the Griffins (Eduardo Perez photo).
With the young lineup the Griffins put out there, they didn’t back down, but were overmatched.
The Griffins were getting good looks on offence, but had a tough time getting through the middle of the Huskies defence.
“It’s a little technical. Some of our guys have to work on their swings. The ball is in a good hittable zone, but we’re not getting our feet there, Or, we’re in a good zone and our feet are there, but our arm action isn’t quite good enough, and it goes right into the block,” said Poplawski.
“I thought we passed really well yesterday and not as well today.”
Griffins setter Mason Natras ran the Griffins’ young offence well with a 19-assist performance, and he also led MacEwan with nine digs.
“I thought Mason Natras set a good game. He created a lot of one-on-ones, and we weren’t scoring, but for him, I hope he can build on this weekend that he can distribute the ball really well,” said Poplawski.
Starting the season 0-4 wasn’t how Poplawski and the Griffins envisioned things going.While they will aim to try and take some tough lessons from the results this weekend, their biggest focus is to get back healthy.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this. Are we cursed? I am beside myself. I feel bad for our guys. I feel like we can be a heck of a lot more competitive, but we’re two weeks in the season and we were only able to dress 12 players tonight,” said Poplawski.
“The guys are going through some very serious adversity right now. We need to get our guys healthy, and the guys on the court right now need to improve.
“We will try to park this weekend and put it behind us, but this is a lot of adversity for this group very early in the season, and we have to find a way to handle it right now.”