Box Score The Wayland Baptist University volleyball team overcame a relentless John Brown University squad Saturday morning, winning in three sets, 25-23, 26-24, 25-20. The Pioneers hosted their second home and conference match of the season and were able to secure their first home victory in front of a supportive crowd of more than 130 fans.
Wayland head coach
Jim Giacomazzi said he expected nothing less than a hard-fought match between the two teams.
"We were expecting a dog fight because they've beaten several nationally-ranked teams and have a very good record against some impressive teams," he said. "We were concerned with that, but I felt a little better after seeing them play Friday (at Lubbock Christian University) when they lost to Our Lady of the Lake in three sets.
"Of course they are playing on the road after a 10-hour trip and that's hard on them. We felt like that may have given us an advantage, but look how close this game was. You just never know."
Despite tallying two fewer kills than John Brown in the first set, the Pioneers took the victory after scoring the final three consecutive points on kills from
Tania Gomez and
Shahala Hawkins and a hitting error by JBU's Libby Blasingame.
In the second set, the Golden Eagles put even more fear into Wayland, pushing the score to 24-24 before the Pioneers swept the final two points on a kill from
Claire Jacobsma and an error by John Brown, giving them the win, 26-24.
Late in the third set, the score was tied at 19-19, but WBU went on a five-point run – thanks to kills from
Grecia Rivera, Hawkins and Gomez – to all but seal the victory. After allowing one more point by the Eagles, Hawkins capped off the win with another kill to give the Pioneers the 25-20 victory and the three-game sweep.
Rivera's efforts on the floor earned her a double-double, as she tallied 10 kills and 20 digs in the match. Jacobsma had a team-high 13 kills, while Hawkins had eight.
Natasha Giacomazzi contributed 33 assists and a service ace, along with an ace from
Emily Welch.
Defensively,
Jaharys Archilla followed up Rivera's 20 digs with 12 of her own and Giacomazzi came up with 11.The Pioneers were stellar at the net, coming up with 9.5 team blocks, including a solo block and six block assists for Hawkins. Gomez put in five block assists and Giacomazzi had three.
In securing the team's sixth win of the season, Giacomazzi said he was seeing some exciting things on the floor.
"This was our best performance of the year," the coach said. "We came out swinging, took a lead and added to it. As the match went on, though, we had to come from behind in all three sets to win. It shows our character, which is something we've been talking about all season. Our blocking was also improved and is a lot better than we've had the past couple of years."
Wiley College is next on the schedule for the Pioneers. The team will make the 10-hour trip to Marshall in east Texas on Sunday in advance of their Monday matchup.
"I'm concerned about the travel and going that far, but we're going to break the trip up by going as far as Dallas, and then taking a break," Giacomazzi said. "We'll have the girls walk around and get their legs broken down a little bit before we drive the last 2 1/2 hours. We plan to practice at noon on Monday, play at 6, turn around and drive back in time for classes on Tuesday."
In addition to the brutal road trip his team faces, Giacomazzi said they have another tough team to take on in Wiley.
"I haven't seen them play (this season), but I know they are a good team and are ranked fifth or sixth in the nation on defense," he said. "They've beaten a lot of teams in our conference and they go to the playoffs almost every year. Wiley is scrappy, they play well and if the ball gets thrown up, they are going to find a way to hit it."
