No. 12 Oklahoma Baptist holds off No. 22 Pioneers

Box Score In a battle of two nationally-ranked opponents, No. 12 Oklahoma Baptist withstood a furious comeback bid from No. 22 Wayland Baptist to take home a 25-20, 25-22, 18-25, 31-29 victory on Saturday morning at Hutcherson Center.
 
"We gave them a pretty good wake-up notice," Pioneer coach Jim Giacomazzi said after taking on the Lady Bison, who have won the last three Sooner Athletic Conference championships and have not lost a conference match since 2010, a span of 34 straight.  "I think we showed that we are going to provide them with a legitimate challenge this year."
 
Giacomazzi said that it was the small things that proved to be the downfall of his squad (16-3, 3-1), which suffered its first league loss of the season and saw a nine-match win streak come to an end.
 
"The little details just weren't happening today. We need to fine tune our block technique, and our back row defense against the hard hitters was off. We did do a much better job of digging in the last two sets, though."
 
OBU took control early, never trailing in the opening set and posting just three attack errors on 36 chances. WBU jumped out to an 11-7 lead in the second set, but the visitors from Shawnee went on a 10-2 run to regain the upper hand.
 
It looked like a three-set sweep for the Lady Bison early in the third until Pioneer sophomore Shahala Hawkins caught on fire, leading her team on a 16-4 run that put Wayland on top 19-13. Hawkins recorded six of her match-high 18 kills in the third.
 
"We had success in that set because we hit with fewer errors and we blocked well," said Giacomazzi, whose team hit .391 in the third period, "but that completely reversed in the fourth set."
 
In that final set neither team played particularly well, but it featured numerous extended rallies that had the crowd of 300-plus standing on their feet throughout much of the action. The home team led 18-12 and had a chance to force a fifth and deciding set with the score 24-22, but a service error kept OBU alive, and the Lady Bison eventually pulled out the set to remain unblemished in conference action at 4-0 and improve their overall mark to 14-4.
 
"Now we get to regroup and get ready to play on Wednesday," Giacomazzi concluded. 
 
WBU takes on Texas-Permian Basin at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Odessa. The Pioneers return to SAC play next weekend when they meet two SAC newcomers, Texas Wesleyan University at 7 p.m. Friday in Fort Worth and Southwestern Assemblies of God University at 11 a.m. Saturday in Waxahachie.