Sarah McGee tips the ball over a Winnipeg blocker on Saturday (David Larkins photo).
Sarah McGee tips the ball over a Winnipeg blocker on Saturday (David Larkins photo).
January 21, 2024

Griffins get their swagger back in relentless, thorough straight-sets victory over Winnipeg

Box Score

Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics

WINNIPEG, Man. – All of the adversity and soul searching the MacEwan Griffins women's volleyball team went through after their confident, aggressive game deserted them, leading to four-straight losses earlier this month, only served to sharpen their focus and resolve.

For a moment like this.

A moment like Saturday when they were a tidal wave – a force of nature – crushing the Winnipeg Wesmen in straight sets (25-22, 25-15, 25-17).

"We had a pretty good performance tonight," said head coach Chris Wandler.

"It's just wearing on the opposition when they're maybe not playing at their best and you're just relentless. That's kind of what we were. We were a little thorn in somebody's side today."

That somebody was the Wesmen, who had few answers for what MacEwan brought to the court and fell to 6-10 on the season, tumbling out of a playoff position. 

The Griffins improved to 11-7, comfortably in sixth place ahead of 7-11 Calgary and Saskatchewan.

"Our serve, pass and defence was really solid tonight," said Wandler. "We talked about being patient tonight, waiting for opportunities to score. I think that's what we did tonight. We just were super attentive to the details of our game and had some good ball control. 

"I think it was just an air of confidence throughout the team," he added. "We knew the style of play that we need to play. I think we just went out and executed that."

Mariah Bereziuk led the Griffins with 13 kills, an ace, nine digs and three blocks, while Sarah McGee closed out two of the three sets and had eight kills and three blocks.

Brooke Duncalfe led Winnipeg with nine kills while Jaya Dzikowicz had eight. 

"Defensively, Arden (Butler) and Mariah were really good," said Wandler. "They dug a total of 21 balls between the two of them. Arden had 12 and Mariah had 9. That was half of our digs. 

"Mariah was all over the stats page tonight. It wasn't just about her offence."

The victory sealed the fifth weekend sweep of the season for the Griffins and bolstered their chances of making the playoffs for the first time since 2019-20. Just a week ago seemed like the tipping point of the season after they returned home following back-to-back losses to Thompson Rivers – a team well below them in the standings.

The reflection they went through may well be the key to their season, though. A team needs to go through hard times and come out the other side to truly become battle-tested.

For the Griffins, it was about self-realization.

"You always go back and reflect on what makes you, you," said Wandler. "You never want to lose sight of that. That's a big part of what grounded us in the first half. 

"I just thought that we got back to that mentality last week when we came back to the gym, even though we only had two practice times. We knew we weren't too far away; we just needed some time to reflect on our game and we did that."

MacEwan heads into a bye week, but will return to action against cross-town rival Alberta at the David Atkinson Gym on Feb. 2-3.