Box Score OKLAHOMA CITY – The future of Wayland Baptist volleyball was on display here Saturday as the 19
th-ranked Pioneers went to their bench early and often against the last-place team in the Sooner Athletic Conference. Freshmen like
Machala Noack and
Heather Kettl got ample playing time and helped WBU to a sweep of Mid-America Christian, 25-13, 25-21, 25-20, securing the host site for the conference tournament for Wayland.
"We had three freshmen, two sophomores and a senior on the court quite a bit today. This was a good opportunity for them to get some playing time and not worry about making a mistake and coming out," Wayland coach
Jim Giacomazzi said.
It also was a good opportunity for Wayland to experiment with a variety of lineup combinations.
"It allowed us to plan ahead for different occasions that may come up," Giacomazzi said. "You never know what might happen."
The young players didn't let Wayland's level of play drop off as the Pioneers (19-9 overall, 12-2 SAC) rolled to their fourth straight sweep. MACU (3-24, 1-13), meanwhile, lost for the seventh time in a row and fell for the 22
nd time in its last 23 outings.
Wayland mostly controlled the match throughout. After dominating the first set, 25-13, Wayland saw the Lady Evangels step up their play. Set No. 2 was tied at 21 until Wayland notched the final four points – on kills by
Chelsey Driskill and
Shahala Hawkins, an ace by
Emily Welch, and a block by Hawkins and
Morgan Seaton – to take it.
The Pioneers returned to their dominating ways in the third, going up 19-10. MACU managed five unanswered points, prompting a timeout by Wayland. The Pioneers regrouped and came back out to finish off the match, 25-20.
Wayland, which hit .340 for the match compared to MACU's .127, got 17 kills and a .500 hitting percentage by Hawkins as she added to the single-season kills recorded she set in Friday's win over Oklahoma City University. Driskill tacked on a dozen kills, Seaton nine and Inman seven.
"We had some great swings today," Giacomazzi said. "Katie's seven kills on 10 attempts with no errors (.700) is fantastic. Chelsey started slow but ended strong, and Morgan did another solid job. She's improving a lot. And, of course, Sha is Sha."
Giacomazzi also credited
Emily Welch, who had 14 of WBU's 46 digs, for stepping up her game of late.
"She started clicking last year at the (national) tournament, then was a little slow getting started this year," Giacomazzi said. "We switched her to libero and is getting closer to the numbers I want for her, which is about 4½-5 (digs per set). She's doing a better job of getting the ball on a dig to the target so we can run a play."
Noack added eight digs and
Ashlyn Westerman seven, while Hawkins had a pair of solo blocks and Seaton four block-assists as the Pioneers had six total putbacks. Westerman had 35 assists.
Next up for Wayland is Friday's 7 p.m. home match against No. 23 Oklahoma Baptist, the Pioneers' rival which Wayland defeated on Oct. 10 in Shawnee in five. It marked WBU's first win over the Lady Bison since 2009, ending a 12-match losing skid. It also snapped OBU's 53-match regular-season winning streak in the SAC.
A win Friday would secure the SAC regular-season championship for Wayland.
"That's something we've not done since I've been here," Giacomazzi said. "That would be fun for the girls to accomplish something that the other great Wayland teams have not been able to do."
After OBU, Wayland hosts Southwestern Christian at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 8. The Pioneers then will host the SAC Tournament Nov. 13-15.
Giacomazzi said he feels the Pioneers are peaking at just the right time, but also said they are still striving to improve their game.
"It takes a while to get the girls syncing and understanding what we want," he said. "We're trying to work on some new things and make some little changes."
