Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Wayland Baptist volleyball coach
Jim Giacomazzi was hoping to get lots of court time during the Pioneer volleyball team's visit to Florida, and that's just what he got on the first day of the Embry-Riddle Labor Day Tournament.
Opening their season at a tournament featuring a number of quality teams, the third-ranked Pioneers played a pair of five-set matches on Friday, first coming from behind to defeat No. 11 Georgetown, Ky., 17-25, 25-14, 19-25, 25-22, 24-22, before coming up short against Taylor, Ind., 18-25, 25-23, 28-30, 25-22, 15-13.
The Pioneers (1-1) played their matches back-to-back and were on the court for close to 5½ hours straight. The two matches saw Wayland turn out the exact opposite set results, posting a loss, win, loss, win, win against Georgetown followed by a win, loss, win, loss, loss against Taylor.
"It was a good day," Giacomazzi said. "We're getting better every time we step out on the court."
In the season-opener against Georgetown, the Pioneers were taken a bit by surprise in their opening set of the season by a Tiger team that made its season debut on Thursday night against tournament host Embry-Riddle, a team ranked 21
st in the NAIA Preseason Top 25. Georgetown lost to Embry-Riddle in four.
Against Wayland, the Tigers used a seven-point run midway through the opening set to take control and go on to a 25-17 win. But the Pioneers dominated the second set, taking a 20-8 lead before posting the 25-17 win on a kill by
Chelsey Driskill. WBU hit .500 in that set after hitting just .126 in the opener.
The Tigers regained control in the third set, going on an 8-3 run to break an 11-11 tie and then winning it on an ace, 25-19.
It was Wayland's turn to win one on an ace in the fourth set, which saw the Pioneers lead almost the entire way. The Tigers were within 22-21, but WBU tallied three of the next four points, including a kill by
Shahala Hawkins and a capping ace by Ashley Welch.
The decisive fifth set to 15 points turned into almost a full set to 25 when Wayland couldn't close it out despite a 14-11 lead. Wayland had new fewer than nine set-points and fought off at least one set-point by Georgetown before finally ending it on a block by Driskill followed by an ace by
Mercades Torres.
After a short break, the Pioneers were back on the court against the Taylor Trojans, which came into the tournament having already played five games in a tournament the previous weekend. Taylor lined up against Wayland with an impressive 5-1 record, having beaten the same Northwestern Ohio team that handed them their only loss last weekend earlier in the day.
The Pioneers rolled to a 25-18 first-set victory and were within two points of taking a 2-0 lead after rallying from a 21-17 deficit to a 23-23 tie. But the Tigers took the next two points and evened the match at 1-set apiece.
Wayland trailed 21-17 in the third set before a Pioneer timeout helped right the ship. A block by Driskill kicked off a 6-2 WBU run that tied it at 23-all. The Pioneers then had to fight off four set-points before Hawkins got it to go Wayland's way with a block followed by a kill, ending it at 30-28.
The Trojans won the fourth set, 25-22, to force a fifth set that was close all the way. Wayland went up 9-8 but Taylor ran off three unanswered points for an 11-9 edge. A block-assist by Hawkins and
Ashlyn Westerman tied it at 12-all, prompting a timeout by Taylor, which came out of the break and scored back-to-back points. A kill by Hawkins brought Wayland to within 14-13, but an out-of-bounds hit by the Pioneers gave the Trojans (6-1) the match.
Giacomazzi said playing back-to-back matches took a toll on his team, especially this early in the season, but the coach said the Pioneers will use it as a character-building lesson.
"This is where character is made. When you're fatigued and you still have to focus and do your job, that's a hard thing to do," he said. "You could see it on some of their faces.
"They have to understand we have a target on our backs, and when you let a good, unranked team like that hang around those things can happen."
Giacomazzi said the Pioneers committed "way too many errors."
"In the second set (against Taylor) the girls relaxed a little bit. Taylor's first six points were off of errors on our side," he said. "They were good, tall athletes and were able to take advantage of some of our younger positions. Our right side has to have a better block, and our left side has to keep the ball in play. We didn't do that for most of the match. Those are some things as we get more experience we'll get a lot better at. We knew that coming in."
Wayland's next match comes at 10:30 a.m. (CDT) Saturday against fourth-ranked Madonna, Mich. The Crusaders are 3-2 on the season, having dropped their first match in Florida to No. 14 Oklahoma Baptist, 15-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-19, 11-15. Wayland then ends the tournament by taking on the Bryan College Lions of Tennessee at 6 p.m. Saturday. Bryan opened its season today by losing to St. Catharine College, 25-13, 26-24, 13-25, 25-8, and defeating St. Thomas, 22-25, 25-23, 20-25, 23-25.
