SASKATOON, Sask. – The University of Saskatchewan Huskies (USask) dominated for three straight sets to earn their sixth consecutive win, taking a 3-1 decision (22-25, 25-20, 25-18, 25-19) over the MacEwan Griffins on the Ron & Jane Centre Court.
The U SPORTS No. 7-ranked Dogs’ entered Friday night (Jan. 17) coming off a pair of road victories in Calgary to kick off the new year and looking to pick up their ninth win of the season over a struggling Griffins team.
With the win, the Huskies improved to 9-4 on the season, earning a share of third-place in the Canada West standings and drawing even with the UBC Thunderbirds. Meanwhile MacEwan remains in search of their first win of the 2024-25 campaign, falling to 0-13.
Both teams came out firing in the opening set, converting on over 30% of attacks with the Huskies narrowly edging out the Griffins with 15 kills to the visiting team’s 14 successful strikes. Despite the attacking advantage, the Griffins would take the opening set 25-22 after receiving kills from a trio of players paired with with untimely Saskatchewan errors.
Set two saw the Huskies respond with a flurry of points following a 10-10 tie. The Dogs rattled off a 9-2 run thanks in part to five errors from the Griffins. Kills from USask’s middle blockers Lucas Musschoot and Jacob Baird along with Emmett Graham would then close out the set the way of the Huskies 25-20.
Despite the Griffins coming out strong in the third and taking a 7-5 lead, the unfazed Dogs saw a a stretch of four straight serves from Musschoot to pull ahead. Three errors late in the set coupled with two kills from Jefferson Morrow would see the Dogs take a two-to-one set lead with a 25-18 victory.
The fourth saw an onslaught from the home Huskies, who doubled MacEwan’s point total to take a 20-10 advantage before a late surge from the Griffins cut the deficit to five. Saskatchewan solidified the 3-1 win with a 25-19 set victory.
The Huskie effort was led by a quartet of players earning at least 10 points. Outside hitter Emmett Graham topped the bunch with a 20-point, 18 kill outing and was followed by Lucas Musschoot who recorded the second most of his season with 14 thanks to a .474 hitting percentage. Joshua Thorson would total 13 and Jefferson Morrow 12 with Noah Opseth continuing his ascension towards the top of the program record books with 44 assists.
For the visiting Griffins, Mitchell Croft recorded a team-high 17.5 points with Jarod Inia following closely behind with 14.
The two teams return to the Physical Activity Complex tomorrow with the opening serve scheduled for 3:00 PM.