Box Score
Bracket
SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Jim Giacomazzi wasn't a bit surprised that almost three months after his Wayland Baptist volleyball team lost to Vanguard University (Calif.) in four sets that the 19th-ranked Pioneers beat the No. 9 Lions in three in their opening pool play match Tuesday night at the NAIA Volleyball National Championships.
"I thought we should have won out there the first time we played them," Giacomazzi said of the 25-23, 26-24, 21-25, 25-16 loss Wayland suffered to Vanguard back in early September at a tournament in California.
While the coach's comment may sound a bit boastful, it's more a testament to the confidence he has in his team because of the improvement the Pioneers have made since coming back from the West Coast.
Sure enough, Tuesday's rematch between the Pioneers and Lions in Sioux City was a whole different story. Wayland mostly controlled the match from the first serve forward and ultimately won it, 25-23, 25-17, 25-15 for one of four sweeps among the 12 opening-day matches. It was the second-most lopsided victory of the day, behind only top-ranked, undefeated Texas-Brownsville's 25-20, 25-12, 25-21 win over host Briar Cliff (Iowa).
"It was a great performance. They did a super job," Giacomazzi said. "The girls showed huge improvement from the first time we played (Vanguard). The defense was better, the blocking was better…overall they just played much better. It's a testament to how hard they've worked this year and the strides they've made."
The Pioneers (32-6) next play No. 5 Northwestern College (Iowa) at 5:45 p.m. Wednesday. Northwestern (35-2) topped No. 23 Spring Hill College (Ala.) on Tuesday, 25-23, 25-17, 25-17. Wayland finishes pool play against Spring Hill (36-4), which had won 28 straight matches before falling to Northwestern, at 5:45 p.m. Thursday.
The top two teams in each of six pools advance to single-elimination bracket play on Friday and Saturday.
Tuesday's win puts Wayland, the No. 3 seed in its pool, in prime position to advance, having already beaten the No. 2 seed in Vanguard.
"This bodes well for us, although we have to come back and retool and get ready for Northwestern. They are a very good team," Giacomazzi said. "They have some big girls and just have more strength all the way around. We will have to put together a pretty solid match to have a chance."
Wayland could hardly wait to get another shot at Vanguard after losing to the Lions in their ninth match of the season. In fact, Giacomazzi said his players could barely watch the video from that early-season outing as they prepared for the rematch.
"The girls hated watching the video from back in September because of how gross their mistakes were back then," Giacomazzi said.
Wayland didn't make many mistakes – period – on Tuesday while at the same making the Lions look like anything but a top-10 team. The Pioneers hit .206 compared to the Lions' .038, and Wayland had 13 blocks versus seven for Vanguard.
"That was wonderful," Giacomazzi said of WBU's blocking performance. "Those were quality blocks, not just flukes. We worked hard this week on our blocking. This was a very good blocking night."
Leading the blocking bonanza was Shahala Hawkins with one solo and eight assists, to go with her team-high 11 kills and .375 hitting percentage.
"That was a whole lot of points," Giacomazzi said. "She almost had a double-double with blocks."
Chelsey Driskill and Cindy Horn added seven kills each, with Horn getting one solo and five block assists and Driskill hitting .357.
"What a nice job she did," Giacomazzi said.
Grecia Rivera ended with six kills, two aces and 10 digs, tying Emily Welch for team-high honors. Ashlyn Westerman provided all but two of Wayland's 32 assists.
All 13 Pioneers played in the match.
"We haven't done that much this year where everybody got to play," Giacomazzi said. "How excited was Rebekah (Jones) to get the last point?"
Vanguard arrived in Sioux City having won 10 of its last 11 matches, including a victory over second-ranked Concordia (Calif.) in what is the toughest conference in the country, the Golden State Athletic Conference. But Wayland, now winners of eight of its last nine, came out on fire and simply outshined the Lions, who were the only one of five GSAC national-qualifying teams to fall on Tuesday.
Knowing Vanguard hadn't played a match in 17 days, Giacomazzi wanted to jump on the Lions early, thinking they might be a bit rusty. Wayland did that, somewhat, with a 6-4 lead, but Vanguard ran off five straight points to go up 9-6.
The Pioneers got the lead back and were up 16-12 when the Lions rallied again, although this time Wayland didn't surrender the upper-hand. It was tied at 22 when Hawkins got a kill, then Hawkins and Rivera combined for a block to take it to set-point. Vanguard fought off one, but a net call gave the match to Wayland, 25-23.
"I told the girls after we won the first one, 'Big deal,'" Giacomazzi said. "A lot of teams after winning the first set in a big match like this will come out half-a-cylinder off (in set two)."
Not the Pioneers, who instead came out with even more fire in their eyes. Wayland trailed only once in the second set at 3-2, but promptly scored five unanswered points – on block assists from Hawkins and Rivera, and Hawkins and Claire Jacobsma, plus three miscues by Vanguard – to help set the tone.
Vanguard was within 13-12 when the Pioneers reeled off four straight points – with Hawkins again getting a pair of block assists, this time with Horn and Jacobsma. Back-to-back kills by Driskill and Jacobsma preceded a combined block by that same pair, and suddenly Wayland was up 22-13.
The Lions managed to reach 17 before a kill Driskill finished it off.
"The girls showed a lot of tenacity this evening," Giacomazzi said.
Vanguard appeared to deflate after that, and Wayland took full advantage. Aces by Westerman and Rivera helped Wayland to a 6-1 lead in the third set, and soon it grew to 11-3. The margin stayed about the same the rest of the way until back-to-back kills by Hawkins and Jones secured the sweep.
The Pioneers won't get to enjoy their victory for long, not with the No. 5 team in the country waiting for them on Wednesday.
"Our challenge for tomorrow is to play well, do the best we can, and let the chips fall where they may," said Giacomazzi, adding that Northwestern likely knocked off any rust from its extended layoff against Spring Hill.
"We have to come with our 'A' game, and hope they come with their 'C' game," Giacomazzi said. "If we play on all cylinders like we did tonight, we'll be OK."
