Back on November 6, 1997, the Wayland Baptist volleyball team defeated Lubbock Christian 3-0 at Hutcherson Center. On Tuesday evening, 5,087 days later, it took five thrilling sets, but the Pioneers finally got another home win over the Lady Chaps. In the process, the Pioneer women also gave their head coach, Jim Giacomazzi, his 105th victory at Wayland, putting him on top of the column for all-time wins by Pioneer volleyball coaches.
WBU took the first two sets of its match against Lubbock Christian by identical 25-21 scores. The Pioneers lost the advantage only once in the first set, and controlled the second from the beginning, never relinquishing the lead.
The two teams had similar hitting stats in those opening sets, but Wayland controlled the nets, recording a total of seven blocks, five more than their opponent. Wayland also put down four service aces, while LCU posted only one.
Kate Trejos put down half of her match-high 20 kills in set's one and two, and was in on two blocks.
A ten-minute break between sets two and three seemed to shift the momentum around. The Lady Chaps came out of the intermission and won the first five points of the third set, going on to win it 25-23.
After getting down 5-0 in the match, the Pioneers worked their way back, eventually grabbing the 19-17 advantage on three straight kills by senior Kimberli Harger.
LCU showed why it is a perennial powerhouse, however, storming back to take eight of the final 12 points to get back in the contest.
Like they did in the previous set, the Lady Chaps jumped out to an early lead in the fourth. The Pioneers stayed within striking distance, though, and went up 19-18 after a block by Natasha Giacomazzi and Harger.
Kills by Tatiana Gonzalez and Ashley Duff made it 21-20, but LCU once again went on the attack getting kills by Kacey Deterding, Brittany Johnson, Maddie Johnson and Jordan Goings to even the match at two sets a piece with the 25-22 victory.
After the match, Giacomazzi said that the outcome simply came down to which team made the fewest mistakes.
"Neither team showed desperation. Both teams just went about their business. You have to give LCU credit, they never gave up, and they made us work for every point. What it ultimately came down to was which team made the least amount of errors, and tonight that was us."
The first four points of the fifth and final set were all scored on errors and WBU committed only one of those to take the 3-1 lead. LCU tied it at five, six and seven, but a kill by Gonzalez and an attack error by the Lady Chaps put the Pioneers back on top, 9-7.
Trejos' 20th kill of the match made it 13-11. Following a Lubbock Christian timeout, the Lady Chaps got a kill by Bailey Jones, but Harger nailed down her 15th kill to make it match point.
LCU scored three straight to go on top 15-14, leading Giacomazzi to take back-to-back timeouts. Whatever the fifth-year coach drew up worked, because his team took two of the next three points – both on Gonzalez kills to get the 17-15 victory.
"What can you say? It was a slugfest. All the fans got to see an entertaining game, and I believe that their support made a huge difference in the outcome."
Senior Alissa Mitchell Hodgson and sophomore Natasha Giacomazzi led the defensive charge for the Pioneers with 24 digs each, a career high for both young ladies. In addition, Giacomazzi passed out 49 assists for her ninth straight double-double of the season.
Gonzalez, Trejos and Harger also posted double-doubles. Gonzalez had 12 kills and 21 digs, Trejos added 19 digs to go with her 20 kills, and Harger was credited with 15 kills and 12 digs. The senior from Lubbock was in on a team-high four blocks, as well.
The Pioneers, who improve to 15-7 and 4-4, take a break from Sooner Athletic Conference play this weekend as they travel to Bourbonnais, Ill. to take part in the Stop the Hunger Classic at Olivet Nazarene University.
