Box Score Some minor adjustments paid major dividends for the Wayland Baptist volleyball team Friday night.
The 24
th-ranked Pioneers debuted some position shifts against Oklahoma City University, and Wayland put away the Stars in Sooner Athletic Conference play, 25-16, 25-20, 25-22.
"We made some adjustments defensively and offensively," WBU coach
Jim Giacomazzi said, referring to
Shahala Hawkins and
Chelsey Driskill moving some to
the outside and
Morgan Seaton appearing at times in the middle, in addition to a few other tweaks as the Pioneers look to fight through a variety of injuries.
The modifications helped the Pioneers (10-9, 4-2 SAC) overpower an OCU team (12-8, 4-2) that was above them in the conference standings with wins in four of their first five SAC outings.
"We're kind of the walking wounded right now, but we're adapting," Giacomazzi said of getting used to the adjustments. "We're just trying to score more points than the other team faster than they score them."
The first set saw the Pioneers pull away from a 4-4 tie by scoring five unanswered points, including an ace by
T-Keeyah Hall but mostly on OCU errors. Later, two kills apiece by Driskill and Hawkins helped the Pioneers put the first set away, 25-16.
The Stars held the lead for the first half of the second set, up 13-10, until the Pioneers stepped up their play. Back-to-back kills by Driskill and kill by Seaton and
Cindy Horn allowed Wayland to turn a three-point deficit into a three-point lead, 19-16. Another kill by Horn and an attack error by the Stars ended it, 25-20.
It appeared as though Wayland would easily finish off the Stars in three, taking a 4-1 lead. But OCU quickly bounced back by scoring six straight points. The teams then battled back and forth to a 21-21 tie, which is when Wayland again stepped up.
Hawkins recorded three straight kills, and after OCU managed a brief sideout, Hawkins – who hammered the Stars much of the night with her power – softly tipped home the final point of the match.
Hawkins ended with 22 kills and hit .436 while Driskill tallied a dozen kills and hit .476, helping Wayland to a .310 team performance. The Stars managed just .195.
Giacomazzi said the rotation adjustments "opened some things up. Plus we were running some different freeball plays, just to give a little variety."
The coach said some of the Pioneers' strategies are "completely different" than what they have been.
"We're working hard on trying to refine some things we need to do this time of the year," he said.
Giacomazzi also praised
Katie Inman and
Rebekah Jones.
"Katie is doing a good job coming along getting some swings, and Rebekah had a lot of good swings. All of those little things helped make a big difference for us."
The Pioneers, with
Emily Welch at libero, ended with 44 digs, compared to OCU's 39, and had six blocks, versus just one for the Stars.
Cat Wiechmann and
Mercades Torres had 11 digs each to lead Wayland, while Inman and Seaton came up with three block-assists apiece. Driskill had two block-assists and one solo.
"We worked hard on defense," Giacomazzi said. "We really picked it up the third set when we had 21 digs. A lot of times we kept the ball off the floor."
Ashlyn Westerman provided all but two of Wayland's 39 assists.
The Pioneers have the rest of the weekend off before returning to the Hutch at 7 p.m. Tuesday to take on Texas-Permian Basin (6-8) in non-conference play.
"I'm ready to beat them," Giacomazzi said. "They've beaten us the last three years, which is really frustrating."
The Pioneers return to their SAC schedule on Friday, Oct. 10 in Shawnee, Okla., against rival Oklahoma Baptist (15-6, 5-0).
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