Alana Murr finished with seven kills for the Griffins on Saturday (Husain Dhooma photo).
Alana Murr finished with seven kills for the Griffins on Saturday (Husain Dhooma photo).
October 25, 2025

Passing woes continued to derail Griffins' offence in another 3-0 loss to Thompson Rivers

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Jason Hills 
For MacEwan Athletics 
 
EDMONTON – Right now, the MacEwan Griffins offence looks out of sync, and the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack made them pay the price. 

For a second-straight night, the Griffins fell in straight sets (25-12, 25-17, 25-22) to TRU and dropped to 1-3 this season, while TRU improved to 2-0.

Alyshia Bryks led MacEwan with eight kills and nine digs, while Alana Murr recorded seven kills and Payton Shimoda added 21 assists with one kill and five digs. 

"We didn't pass the ball well in the first two sets, and it's hard to run an offence when you can't pass the ball," said Griffins head coach Chris Wandler. 

"I thought in the third set, we did a better job, but (TRU) serves the ball well, and we didn't pass the ball efficiently as we needed to, and it makes it pretty predictable when you can't do that." 

In Friday's 3-0 win over MacEwan, TRU won the second set by a commanding 25-9 score, and they opened Saturday's match in total control. They led from start to finish, and the Griffins were only able to manage four kills in the first set. 

Anika Buys came up with two big blocks and Bryks came up with another, but the Griffins didn't record their first kill of the set until Kara Frith hit one down the line to cut TRU's lead to 11-5. 

MacEwan got off to another slow start in the second set and had to dig themselves out of an early hole. A nice block from Murr, and a kill from Bryks a few points later, cut TRU's lead to 14-9, but they just couldn't gain any traction, and TRU was able to take the second set 25-17. 

"Our passing has to be better, and we have to figure that out so our offence can run at a pace we know it can run at," said Wandler. 

"They're a physical team. They serve the ball well and hit the ball hard, and that's something we didn't adjust to good enough, and there's more work that needs to be done." 

MacEwan started to find their game in the third set. Wandler made a switch and brought in rookie outside hitter Chloe Penz for veteran Arden Butler, and the former Lindsay Thurber Raider provided a nice spark off the bench. 

She recorded her first two-career kills and her first-career service ace. 

"She was there to mainly stabilize the passing, and I thought she did a pretty good job of that when she came in. Her first little bit was a little jittery, but after that she settled down," said Wandler on the play of Penz. 

"She passed the ball quite well, and we were able to run our offence, and we had 12 kills in that third set, largely due to the fact we were passing some good balls, and Payton was able to run our offence. 

"It was a spot we thought she could handle, and she took the opportunity and did well with it, and that's all you can ask." 

MacEwan was able to take their first lead of the game after Buys hit a service ace. A kill from Penz made it 11-9, and her service ace gave MacEwan a 14-13 lead, but TRU was able to re-establish their lead, and the Griffins kept it close, but couldn't pull out the set win 

While the Griffins struggled to generate much offensively, especially from the outside, Wandler praised the work of veterans Shimoda and Bryks, as they built a good connection offensively, despite some of the challenges the offence faced. 

"With how much we struggled with our passing, those two were really the heartbeat of the match," said Wandler. 

"It makes it tough when you're not getting production out of a couple of key players, and that was critical for us." 

MacEwan will enter a bye week, before travelling to Kelowna to face the UBCO Heat on Nov. 7-8.