Brendon Lord led the Griffins with eight kills on Friday (Husain Dhooma photo).
Brendon Lord led the Griffins with eight kills on Friday (Husain Dhooma photo).
November 28, 2025

Mid-set error runs cost Griffins in 3-0 loss to defending U SPORTS bronze medallist Saskatchewan

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Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON – For a time in each set, the MacEwan Griffins played right with the Saskatchewan Huskies men's volleyball team before the visitors just simply raced away to the finish line.

In a match that lasted just over an hour, Saskatchewan ended MacEwan's afternoon with a comfortable 3-0 victory (25-20, 25-19, 25-16).

"They won the game from the baseline," said Griffins head coach Brad Poplawski. "They served tough. We just made too many errors in every facet of the game. 

"We can compete for a bit and then at some point, something breaks down. It's our passing, it's a missed set, then a missed swing. Then we go around the horn again and it's a run of five. It's not just one thing. It's trying to plug a hole in a dam and as soon as you plug one, two more spring up."

With the result, the Huskies improve to 6-5, dropping the Griffins to 0-9 on the Canada West campaign.

Saskatchewan was led by Isaiah Mamer, who had 13 kills on a .346 hitting percentage, adding three aces and four digs. Noah Opseth had a tidy 32 assists in just three sets.

The Griffins were led by Brendon Lord, who had eight kills, while Seth Birkholz chipped in five kills on a .625 effficiency, adding two blocks.

In the opening set, MacEwan had the lead for most of the early going, up by as much as 11-8 at one point. But the Huskies eventually go rolling, going on a 6-1 run to get to 20 first (20-16) and closing it out on their second set point attempt when Aaron Elser's attack went off the block and out.

The second set was again close early with the affair tied up 9-9 before Saskatchewan gained a three-point advantage mid-set and stretched it further before winning it on their second set point attempt again when Lord was blocked by Jacob Baird and Mamer.

In Set 3, the dam burst for the Griffins as the errors mounted to a boiling point of a -.083 attack percentage in the set and they found themselves down 19-10. From there, the Huskies subbed in a couple bench players to give them some experience and closed it out on Mamer's ace.

"I think we panic," said Poplawski of what happened when each set started getting away from them in the middle of it. "I don't think we solve problems well enough. 

"Again, I have three first-years on the floor. So, it's not even fair to be critical of this. And it's not just the first years, the veterans are making errors, too. We take turns making errors. It's not consistent. It's not repeatable. 

"Volleyball's a repeatable sport. I've said it a million times. We can't just get a lead early and play a trap. Volleyball's not that kind of sport. It's not doing it right once, it's doing it the other 25 swings you're going to have in the match. Other teams we're playing right now, Sask included, it's just more repeatable."

The result isn't unexpected, given that the Huskies are the reigning U SPORTS bronze medallists and feature multiple players with junior national team experience.

"We need a lot of stuff to go right and it didn't," said Poplawski. "Hopefully tomorrow, a bunch of stuff can go right. On paper, they have a bunch of junior national guys, they were third at nationals last year – they're a wagon. I don't know what else we can do. We need to play a lot better, but I can't be disappointed. Sask is better than us, no doubt. Our guys need to raise our level and battle, and we did at times. 

"My guys are doing everything they can. I know the errors aren't on purpose. They're trying. We're just trying to speed that process up with them."

The teams will meet again on Saturday (4:30 p.m., David Atkinson Gym, Canada West TV).