Box Score
SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Could Christmas come early for the Wayland Baptist Pioneers? If they keep playing like this, it just might!
The 19th-ranked Pioneers earned their third win in as many pool play outings at the NAIA Volleyball National Championships, defeating No. 23 Spring Hill College (Ala.) on Thursday night, 25-20, 25-13, 23-25, 25-20.
"This is just a neat experience," WBU coach Jim Giacomazzi said.
And it's far from over.
The Pioneers (34-6) will continue their record-setting season at 10 a.m. Friday when they begin single-elimination bracket play. Wayland is one of 12 teams from the original 24 that made it to Sioux City to advance out of pool play, and the Pioneers – the final team to make it into an original field of 36 – now are the No. 5 overall seed. As such, Wayland will take on the No. 12 seed, to be determined later tonight, on Friday morning. The top four seeds earn first-round byes and will face Friday morning's winners in the quarterfinals on Friday evening. The semifinals and finals are set for Saturday.
"We'll be up about 6 o'clock for breakfast. It will be a short night," Giacomazzi said. "We'll get refueled and come in here more awake than the team we play, whoever they are, and hopefully take them to town."
Wayland (34-6) has done exactly that to its first three opponents in Sioux City. It started with sweeps of both No. 9 Vanguard (Calif.) and No. 5 Northwestern (Iowa) on Tuesday and Wednesday, then continued on Thursday against Spring Hill.
"They were pesky," Giacomazzi said of the Badgers (37-5), who after losing in three to Northwestern on Tuesday rallied to defeat Vanguard on Wednesday in five, 20-25, 27-25, 22-25, 25-12, 15-13.
While it was thought Wayland had already clinched a spot in bracket play after its win on Wednesday, the Pioneers still needed to take one set off Spring Hill in order to, at the very least, prevail on tie-breakers. Wayland took care of that by winning the opening set, 25-20.
"I was nervous," Giacomazzi admitted of his pre-match feelings. "There were so many scenarios that could have taken place."
Wayland took the early upper hand but the Badgers bounced back to lead, 16-14.
"They came out prepared and ready to play," Giacomazzi said. "They tested us."
Down two, Wayland ran off six straight points, getting a pair of kills from Grecia Rivera and one each from Cindy Horn and Chelsey Driskill, plus a block by Ashlyn Westerman followed by a dump kill by Westerman.
That gave Pioneers the separation they needed, and they rode it out for a 25-20 win.
Wayland used another 6-0 run in the second set to again gain some separation, this time doing it early for an 8-2 lead. All six points came on WBU kills, including three by Hawkins, two by Horn and one from Rivera.
The Pioneers led 12-8 when they recorded five unanswered points to kick off a 13-5 set-ending run that gave Wayland the easy 25-13 victory.
"The second set was more like I liked," Giacomazzi said.
Wayland was looking to join No. 1-ranked Texas-Brownsville as the only teams here to sweep all of their pool play matches. But Spring Hill was fighting to continue its season, and the Badgers played like it. They took control of the third set and eventually went up by as many as six, 18-12. Wayland strung together another run of five straight points – featuring a pair of kills from Rivera, an ace by Emily Welch and a block assist from Driskill and Westerman – to close to within one.
The Pioneers tied it at 22 before Spring Hill regained control and handed Wayland its first loss in four national tournament matches (including an opening-round win over Ottawa, Kan.), 25-23.
Wayland committed 10 of its 17 total hitting errors in the third set, and also had four service errors and two blocking errors in the set.
"Fatigue is starting to be a factor, and you could see that in our defense a little bit," Giacomazzi said.
The Pioneers dug deep in set four, however.
After dropping the first point, Wayland scored the next one to tie it and never trail again, taking the lead for good at 3-2. Still, Spring Hill didn't fall without a fight as the Badgers, after trailing by six, closed to within 18-17, prompting a timeout by Giacomazzi.
"We had a little funky part," the coach said. "Sometimes we get away from our system."
Wayland continued to cling to a one-point lead at 21-20 when back-to-back errors by Spring Hill tipped things in the Pioneers' favor. The Badgers attempted to gain their composure with a timeout, but a combined block by Hawkins and Claire Jacobsma gave Wayland match point, and Hawkins ended it with a kill to the corner.
Hawkins finished with 25 kills – seven more than her previous best this season – and just two errors for a .511 hitting percentage.
"She did a fantastic job," Giacomazzi said of the sophomore. "We had a good mismatch with her. We didn't get the ball to our middles enough, but when we did we ran away with things."
Rivera was close behind Hawkins with 20 kills – matching her season-high – with five errors to hit .313. Horn added eight kills, Jacobsma six and Driskill five as Wayland hit .304 compared to .184 for Spring Hill.
Wayland was limited to six blocks, one of the lowest totals of the season for the team that leads the NAIA in total blocks, averaging 2.7 a set.
"(Spring Hill) did a fantastic job on block coverage," Giacomazzi said. "Those (block attempts) were falling (against Northwestern and Vanguard) because those teams weren't used to getting blocked. Spring Hill doesn't have as many big, strong players," so the Badgers are more accustomed to scrapping.
Giacomazzi credited Spring Hill's Hall of Fame coach Dr. Peggy Martin.
"They don't have as many big, strong players, but she gets the most out of them," he said. "They were disciplined."
Wayland posted 79 digs, including 21 by Mercades Torres to match her season-high, 14 from Westerman, and 13 by Welch, whose previous high this season was 11. Giacomazzi was proud of all three players.
"Mercades made some great adjustments," he said.
Giacomazzi also was overjoyed with the results of all three of Wayland's matches thus far in Sioux City.
"These matches," he said, "have been fantastic."
And, once again, it's far from over!
