Evangel ends Wayland's season in three

Box Score

A year after coming out of nowhere to make a run to the national semifinals, the Wayland Baptist Pioneers were hoping for another magical time in the NAIA Volleyball National Championships. Instead, that role just may go to the Evangel University (Mo.) Crusaders.
 
Evangel ended Wayland's impressive winning streak and, more importantly, its season as the Crusaders defeated the Pioneers in an opening-round match on Saturday night in Hutcherson Center, 25-20, 25-22, 25-22.
 
"Evangel is a good team, and when they're on they're a top 15 team in the country, which is what they were ranked midway through the season," Wayland coach Jim Giacomazzi said. "They were firing on all cylinders today."
 
The 25^th-ranked Crusaders (26-11) – a team with no seniors or freshmen – came up with a dozen blocks, almost twice as many as No. 20 Wayland, to punch their ticket to the national championship final site in Sioux City, Iowa. Of the 12 teams playing opening-round matches on the road, Evangel was the only team to win Saturday.

Wayland (23-10) was hoping to get back to Sioux City, but instead the Pioneers saw their 14-match winning streak come to a close and their season end.
 
"They have to be one of the best defensive teams we've played this year," Giacomazzi said. "They picked up balls that are normally kills for us, and they picked them up between 4-6 inches off the ground. The good thing about championship ball is if you keep the ball off the floor the other team is going to hit into the net or out of bounds or, like today, into the block.
 
"Our defense was right there with them…with one exception: They out-blocked us."
 
Evangel's Morgan Kensinger, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, had two solo blocks and seven block assists, while 5-10 junior Haley Watson had five block assists.
 
"We talked about their block this week, knowing they had some 6-2 people out there and that they played some quality opponents and did well against them," Giacomazzi said.
 
The first set was tied at 19-all when Evangel went on a 6-1 run to take it, 25-20. Watson was credited with three of her team-high 11 kills during that run.
 
Wayland bounced back by taking a 3-1 lead to start the second set, but the Crusaders quickly tied it. The last deadlock was at 15-all when Evangel got three straight points to go on top for good. The Crusaders tallied another three-in-a-row to make it 23-18, and although Wayland fought off three set points, Evangel won it on a kill by Micah Cribbs-Guiot, 25-22.
 
Wayland finally appeared to find its game in set No. 3 as the Pioneers – thanks in part to kills by Shahala Hawkins, Morgan Seaton and Cindy Horn – went up 6-1. But the Crusaders came back with four straight points, and once more it was game on.
 
The Pioneers were still in control at 16-10, but Evangel outscored Wayland 8-2 to knot it at 18. WBU went back up 21-19, but once again the Crusaders finished strong, this time on a 5-1 run – featuring an ace by Maddie Baumann and three kills by Cribbs-Guiot, including the clincher – to end the match with a 25-22 victory.
 
"When they served the ball in the net to get us to 22, I thought we were going to win the match because of their mistake," Giacomazzi said.
 
The Crusaders had 44 kills and hit .209 compared to 42 kills and .113 for the Pioneers, who were hurt by 26 hitting errors.
 
"Even when you take away their 12 blocks, we'd still have 14 hitting errors," Giacomazzi said. "When you get to this point in the season you can't have all of those mistakes.
 
"They shut down the middle," he added.
 
After Watson's 11 kills, Fugate added 10 and hit .409 for Evangel. Hawkins and Seaton paced Wayland with 11 and 10 kills, respectively.
 
"Neither team had anybody really rise to the occasion offensively," Giacomazzi said. "We were right there with them, we just didn't get enough balls to hit the floor. You have to credit their defense, not only in the back line but also at the net.
 
"They did a good job of mixing it up. They'd hit hard and then they'd tip. That's what we like to do to other teams, and we had it done to us.
 
"They did a better job of making adjustments than we did."
 
Evangel dug 63 balls, one more than Wayland. Emily Welch paced the Pioneers with 19 digs, followed by Ashlyn Westerman with 10. It was the final match for Wayland's Westerman and T-Keeyah Hall, both seniors.
 
Smith dug 19 balls and Allie Dunton 15 for the Crusaders.
 
Giacomazzi congratulated Evangel and wished the Crusaders well in Sioux City.
 
"Congratulations to them," he said. "They have as good a chance as we did last year in the tournament to be the surprise team."