Box Score
Beating Oklahoma Baptist…in a sweep…on Senior Night…in the Hutch…for the Sooner Athletic Conference championship!
Friday night couldn't have gotten any sweeter for the Wayland Baptist volleyball team.
The 20
th-ranked Pioneers defeated rival and 25
th-ranked Oklahoma Baptist, 25-21, 25-22, 25-17, on Friday night in Hutcherson Center to wrap up Wayland's first outright conference volleyball title in 18 years.
"That was fun," WBU coach
Jim Giacomazzi said. "It's been a long time."
When it was over, excited fans celebrated the title on the floor with the Pioneers (20-9 overall, 13-2 SAC), who wrap up the regular-season at 11 a.m. Saturday by hosting Southwestern Christian (12-20, 3-13). After that, Wayland will host the SAC Tournament on Nov. 14 and 15, and as a result of Friday night's win, Wayland will be the No. 1 seed.
The Pioneers had already ended OBU's 53-match SAC win streak when the Pioneers won in Shawnee in five on Oct. 10, 22-25, 25-16, 24-26, 26-24, 16-14.
Friday's rematch wasn't nearly that close.
The opening set was tight with the teams tied at 21, then Wayland took over and scored four of the next five points to win it. The Pioneer run started with a kill by
Cindy Horn and featured a pair by hammers by
Shahala Hawkins, including the one that sealed it.
Set two started with an ace by
Emily Welch then two OBU errors made it 3-0. Wayland went up by as many as eight, 8-3, before the Lady Bison (23-11, 13-3) ran off five in a row to tie it up.
The Pioneers trailed 18-16 then notched the next six points: a kill by
Katie Inman and five OBU errors. The Lady Bison closed to within 23-21, but two more Lady Bison miscues put Wayland in control of the match.
After the intermission, Wayland began running away and hiding from the Lady Bison, taking a 7-0 lead in set three behind a couple of Hawkins kills and one by Horn. OBU managed to break serve, but the Pioneers rattled off another four points for a commanding 11-1 advantage.
It was basically over at that point.
The Pioneers closed strong once again, getting four unanswered points, including kills by
Morgan Seaton and the clincher by
Chelsey Driskill.
Hawkins ended with 20 kills and hit .356 to lead Wayland to its 11
th straight win and fifth straight sweep. No other player on either team had more than eight kills.
Wayland was credited with 12 blocks, compared to seven for OBU. Seaton had six block assists while Hawkins had five helpers and a solo.
Ashlyn Westerman – honored along with fellow senior
T-Keeyah Hall – contributed four block assists, in addition to all but two of Wayland's 40 assists.
The Pioneers produced 70 digs, 19 by Welch and a dozen apiece by Westerman and
Cat Wiechmann.
Giacomazzi, who now has led the Pioneers to at least 20 wins in seven of his eight seasons (missing the mark by just one two years ago), was a bit reflective after the big win.
"Tonight was a wonderful accomplishment for this team," the coach said. "There have been a lot of players who have come in here since 2007 when I started coaching (at WBU) that have worked their tails off. It's fun to see the hard work over the years pay off."
Wayland hadn't won an outright SAC regular-season title since the Pioneers went 30-2, and 6-0 in the conference, in 1996. WBU was SAC co-champs the following season. The only time the Pioneers have won the SAC Tournament came in 2008, Giacomazzi's second season.
WBU audio streaming announcer Matt Driskill usually follows every Pioneer win by playing "Another One Bites the Dust." After this one, Driskill opted for a different tune: "We are the Champions."
