The Wayland Baptist volleyball team went 2-1 during the annual Coca-Cola Classic held this weekend at Hutcherson Center. The Pioneers concluded the classic with a convincing 25-17, 25-2, 25-15 win over the University of the Southwest on Saturday afternoon.
In the first two matches of the classic, the Pioneers were error prone, particularly in the loss to TWU. Against the USW, however, the Wayland women made a dramatic improvement in correcting their mistakes.
"They are hearing what we're saying about cutting out the errors", said Jim Giacomazzi, the Pioneers' head coach. "The more repetitions we take, the better our success rate will be."
Wayland had an attack percentage of .409 against the Lady Mustangs with just five errors, and were flawless in the second set of the match. The Pioneers made it through the entire middle set without committing any kind of statistical error. Alissa Mitchell held serve for 17 straight points, and All-Tournament team selections Kate Trejos and Ashley Duff combined for four kills each during Mitchell's time at the service line.
Trejos and Duff combined to get 28 kills in the match. A freshman from Frisco, Duff got her 14 kills on 20 swings without committing an error. Trejos, a senior from Bogata, Colombia, also went errorless and put down her 14 kills in 31 attempts.
The only time the Pioneers trailed in the match against USW was in the third set when the Lady Mustangs took the first point. Duff quickly tied it with a kill, and the Wayland women never looked back. Tatiana Gonzalez eventually put a period to things with her fifth kill of the match.
In Saturday's other action, Our Lady of the Lake defeated USW 25-18, 25-21, 20-25, 25-14; Lubbock Christian took down Texas Wesleyan, 25-19, 25-23, 25-20; and Texas Wesleyan beat Our Lady of the Lake in three, 25-21, 25-21, 25-23.
The Pioneers return to tournament action next weekend with three matches at the Bacone College Classic in Muskogee, Okla. They won't make another home appearance until Tuesday, Sept. 20 when the University of the Southwest returns to Hutcherson Center.
2011 Coca-Cola Classic All-Tournament Team
Lubbock Christian: Caitlin Kender, Brittany Johnson
Wayland Baptist: Kate Trejos Ashley Duff
Texas Wesleyan: Bailey Bunting, Katherine Rosenbusch
Our Lady of the Lake: Amanda Bonds, Lisa Rodriguez
Univ. of the Southwest: L'Deana Coffer, Stephanie Brown
