Box Score BETHANY, Okla. – There was no "big-win hangover" Saturday afternoon in Bethany, Okla., in the Pioneers' dominating win over Southwestern Christian. The No. 25 Wayland Baptist volleyball team followed its upset win over No. 14 Oklahoma Baptist with a three-set sweep of the Eagles, 25-12, 25-12, 25-10.
The day ended in dominating fashion, but that's not how it started. The Pioneers fell behind three times in the first set before tying the game up at six points apiece.
"In the first set I looked at the scoreboard and asked myself, 'Is it really 6-6?'" head coach
Jim Giacomazzi said. "After that, though, we really got it going and picked up the pace. It was nice to see the girls play the way that they did."
Wayland (13-9, 6-2 SAC) went on a 14-3 run, giving the Pioneers a comfortable 20-9 lead. Southwestern Christian (8-13, 1-7) called a timeout to try to regroup, but the Pioneers kept on rolling, cruising to a 25-12 win in the first set.
Shahala Hawkins and
Morgan Seaton carried the Pioneers in the first set, combining for 13 kills and a .700 hitting percentage. As a team, Wayland boasted an astronomical 91 percent sideout percentage.
The second and third sets proved to be no better for the Eagles as the Pioneers went on to win the second set, 25-12, and the third set, 25-10.
"Overall we had a very good match," Giacomazzi said. "We were able to get a lot of people playing time. Machala (Noack) was one of the girls who got to see a lot of action in the second and third sets, and she did a great job. She did a fantastic job on serve receive, and we were able to run good plays because of that. Today was a great opportunity for her to get experience because you never know when you're going to need to go to her in a big match."
As a team, Wayland hit .493, recording 41 kills compared to 21 kills and a -.025 hitting percentage from the Eagles.
Hawkins led all players with 20 kills, hitting .621, followed by Seaton and
Chelsey Driskill who had seven and five kills, respectively.
Emily Welch led the team with eight digs, while
Ashlyn Westerman recorded a game-high 34 assists.
"We've always come (to Southwestern Christian) after losing to OBU on Friday, so it was nice to come in here and have a little more fun today."
The Pioneers hit the road again next week when they travel to Waxahachie to take on Southwestern Assemblies of God at 7 p.m. Friday and then to Fort Worth to take on Texas Wesleyan at 1 p.m. Saturday.
With Friday's five-set win over OBU, Wayland moved up a game on the first-place Lady Bison in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings this weekend, but Giacomazzi said the key to winning the conference will be to focus on the task at hand.
"We're just going to take it one match and one point at a time, and hopefully we'll keep climbing to the top."
