Box Score
OKLAHOMA CITY – Wearing new road uniforms for the first time in their Sooner Athletic Conference opener, the No. 23 Wayland Baptist Pioneers eased to a straight-set victory over Mid-America Christian here Friday night, winning 25-19, 25-15, 25-11.
"I was very pleased, but I'll be more pleased tomorrow afternoon after we hopefully walk away with two more victories," WBU coach Jim Giacomazzi said in advance of the Pioneers' matches against Oklahoma City University at 11 a.m. and East Central University at 1 p.m.
Wayland (13-2, 1-0) rolled to its sixth straight win by taking out the Lady Evangels (2-10, 0-2), who were playing their second SAC match after coming up short against Southwestern Assemblies of God University on the road on Tuesday, 25-20, 25-7, 25-19.
The Pioneers, though, were slow out of the gates.
"Part of it was the drive over here…(but) we were very flat in the first set," Giacomazzi said. "We're working on trying to be tougher mentally, and that (overcoming travel issues) is part of it.
"It was boring volleyball to watch," the coach added. "We weren't talking to each other; there was dead silence in here several times. I told the girls to kick it up a notch and tried to get them going."
Ultimately, they did get going, especially Claire Jacobsma.
"Claire had an outstanding first set with six kills in seven attempts, then the ball didn't go to her much the rest of the match," Giacomazzi said.
Wayland was up 2-0 despite recording no blocks in either of the first two sets.
"Part of it was in the second set we served pretty tough," Giacomazzi pointed out. "(MACU) had like a 37 percent serve-receive. When we do that (serving) well, we're not going to get a lot of opportunities to block."
The Pioneers took their first lead in the second set at 6-5, then rolled to a 17-8 advantage en route to a 25-15 win. The third set was similarly close early before Wayland, which jumped into a 6-2 defense for a time, took control again, winning by the most lopsided score of the night, 25-11.
"Our defense got better," Giacomazzi said. "Our goal was to get 60 digs and we got 52, so we were right there. That's something we've been working on."
The Pioneers tallied their first blocks in the third set and ended the match with four.
Wayland, which played without injured Cindy Horn, hit .321 for the match compared to MACU's .029. Grecia Rivera, the reigning SAC Player of the Week, led the way with 18 kills. She was followed by Shahala Hawkins with 12 and Jacobsma and Chelsey Driskill with six each.
"I'm pleased with the improvement we're making," Giacomazzi said.
The Pioneers stay in town to take on Oklahoma City University at 11 a.m. Saturday prior to a non-conference match against East Central University (Ada, Okla.) at 1 p.m. OCU (8-4, 1-0) opened SAC play on Tuesday by beating last-place Southwestern Christian at home, 25-10, 25-22, 25-10. East Central (2-5) lost its first five outings of the season before picking off a pair of SAC teams at home over the past week, downing MACU, 25-16, 25-12, 25-15, and St. Gregory's University, 25-13, 25-9, 25-10.
