The Griffins changed some tactics and competed well against UBC on Saturday (Vamsi Nadella photo).
The Griffins changed some tactics and competed well against UBC on Saturday (Vamsi Nadella photo).
January 17, 2026

Behind more aggressive serving, Griffins push nationally-ranked T-Birds in tight 3-1 loss

Box Score

Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics

-With files from UBC Athletics

VANCOUVER, B.C. – Adopting a more aggressive approach, designed to put UBC out of system more often, the MacEwan Griffins women's volleyball team managed to take a set off the U SPORTS No. 3 before falling 3-1 on Saturday night.

MacEwan won the third set for a 25-20, 25-15, 21-25, 25-15 result.

"We altered our game plan a little bit tonight, just from our standpoint – taking a risk and putting some service pressure on them," said Griffins head coach Chris Wandler. "That put them a little bit more out of system, so they weren't passing the ball as well as they did last night. 

"So, that, obviously, translated to some rallies that we won. We started using their block pretty effectively to score some points and we passed the ball a little bit better than we did last night. All in all, we played a little bit better, but it still wasn't enough to beat a very good team."

With the result, UBC improves to 11-3, dropping the Griffins to 5-9 where they are now in a tie with UBC Okanagan for ninth - the two teams occupying the final two playoff positions in Canada West.

Kylee Glanville led UBC with 16 kills, two aces and nine digs, while Lucy Borowski had 15 kills and three aces.

MacEwan's Kara Frith paced the attack with 13 kills, while Alyshia Bryks had 11 and Arden Butler eight. 

"Kara was pretty good again tonight," said Wandler. "Arden, through some sickness, played well until the fourth set. She ran out of steam. Our middle blockers Anika (Buys) and Alana (Murr) got some good touches. We made a couple really good blocks at the net. 

"Overall, it was a little bit of everybody, but the middle blockers were a little bit more involved in this match than they were last night.

The Griffins' signature moment in the match was winning the third set, which they accomplished by being the better team out of an 18-18 tie, getting consecutive kills from Frith, Bryks and Butler to get to 24-20. On their second set point attempt, Buys' roll shot went off a bunch of hands on the UBC side and fell.

"I think it was good for us to get pushed like that, which I only say now that it's over," laughed UBC head coach Doug Reimer. "We faced a real challenge today, and there were lots of ups and downs, but learning from a match like this is part of a team's growth over the season and will help prepare us for more big challenges down the stretch and in the post-season."

When you're a nationally-ranked squad, you have solutions to problems, which is what the Thunderbirds did in the fourth set, closing on a 6-0 run to end the match.

"They started picking on a couple players and we couldn't rebound quick enough," said Wandler. "It just compounded. 

"Really good teams, that's how you win volleyball games. You expose some of the things that the other team can't do in key moments. In a couple rotations, that was our passing and made us a little bit more predictable."

To fix that moving forward, Wandler said his team needs to take Monday reps as seriously as the ones on Friday.

"I was telling the girls, we had a way better mindset for what we needed to do to compete against the No. 3-ranked team in the country," he said, comparing it to Friday's straight sets defeat. "We know that we need to bring that not just on Friday-Saturday, but in practices on Monday through Thursday. 

"I think we had a good conversation that these are the things we need to do in order to compete. We'll learn from that and be a little better at training."

The Griffins will be back home for the next two weekends, which will be huge for their playoff push. They face another tough test in 10-4 Manitoba, who will visit Jan. 23-24 before the Brandon Bobcats (2-12) come to Edmonton Jan. 30-31.