Alyshia Bryks, left, and Anika Buys await a serve from behind them during their match against UBC Okanagan on Friday night (Aaron Rempel photo).
Alyshia Bryks, left, and Anika Buys await a serve from behind them during their match against UBC Okanagan on Friday night (Aaron Rempel photo).
October 26, 2024

Emotional and positional challenges of losing two starters hamper Griffins in loss to Heat

Box Score

Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics 

KELOWNA, B.C. – Already without Danielle Jodoin, lost to a season-ending injury on opening weekend, the MacEwan Griffins women's volleyball team was dealt another devastating blow on the injury front when Kara Frith hurt her ankle in practice before Friday's game.

It was all too much to overcome positionally and emotionally as the team fell 3-1 to the UBC Okanagan Heat (25-19, 14-25, 25-16, 25-15) on Friday night.

"It was up and down. It was a really weird match," said Griffins head coach Chris Wandler. "I think we're still a little bit down from losing Dani – trying to recover and figure out how we're going to fill not just the volleyball void, but the leadership void that brings. It's a little bit more than just Xs and Os with the group.

"Then we lost Kara this morning with an ankle injury in practice, so that didn't help. We were battling more than just the opponent tonight. It made it a little tougher."

With the result, the Griffins fall to 0-3 on the season, while UBCO, who were playing in their home opener, are now 1-0.

"We really tried our best to put our full foot forward and really try to invest emotionally, but it's just so hard to do both – to play at a high level and then battling those things that you want your teammates beside you and they're not there," said Wandler.

"I'm sure we'll have a good night's sleep and we'll come out a little bit better tomorrow. I don't want to say better effort because they tried so hard today, but it just didn't flow. We didn't have any flow because of the emotional strain, I think."

Alyshia Bryks led the Griffins with 10 kills and 11 digs, while Andi Krawec had eight kills and 17 digs, and Evangeline Zeyha chipped in eight kills. 

Setter Payton Shimoda had 26 assists and three service aces, moving within two aces of 50 for her career.

The teams will meet again on Saturday (5 p.m. MT, Canada West TV).