Wayland Baptist seniors Kate Trejos and Tatiana Gonzalez teamed up to produce 31 of the Pioneers' 43 kills in their three-set sweep over St. Gregory's on Saturday at Hutcherson Center. The WBU netters defeated the Cavaliers 25-13, 25-19, 25-16 a day after falling to #20 Oklahoma Baptist in straight sets. The weekend split against Sooner Athletic Conference opponents gives the Pioneers a 2-3 mark in conference play and an overall record of 13-6.
The opening set against SGU was close early, but after the Cavaliers tied the score at 10 the Pioneers outscored the visitors 15-3 to capture the first win.
WBU had early control of the middle set, jumping out to a 14-9 lead. St. Gregory's came back to close the gap to one, led by Macy Fowler who laid down three kills during the 5-0 run. Trejos put a stop to the rally with back-to-back attack points, and Ashley Duff eventually put an end to the set with a kill.
The Cavaliers got the first point of the final set, as they did in the previous two, and even held the lead at 4-2, but Wayland junior libero Jaharys Archilla held serve for nine straight points to break it open for the Pioneers. Kimberli Harger, a senior, scored the final point of the match.
Three WBU women recorded double-doubles in the match. Trejos added 11 digs to her 18 kills, Gonzalez had 13 kills and 13 digs, and sophomore Natasha Giacomazzi recorded 32 assists and 11 digs.
Alissa Mitchell led the Pioneers with 16 digs, and Harger was in on a team-high three blocks, including two solo.
"We beat a team today that we should have beaten," Wayland head coach Jim Giacomazzi said following the match. "While it was nice to win, I am concerned about the nine service errors that we hit way out-of-bounds or into the net.
"We've got a tough opponent up next in Southern Nazarene, but we've been working on some things for the second half. It's not there yet, but it's coming along. Hopefully by those matches in Oklahoma City next weekend we'll have smoothed things out a little more."
