Box Score Jim Giacomazzi has repeatedly told his team that it has a target on its back, and on Friday night the 13
th-ranked Pioneers took a direct hit.
Southwestern Assemblies of God rolled into Hutcherson Center on Friday night and in front of 250 fans slapped Wayland with a 25-18, 25-21, 16-25, 19-25, 15-9 loss.
"We under-estimated the opponent," WBU coach
Jim Giacomazzi said following both teams' second Sooner Athletic Conference match of the season. "They're not the best team in the conference, they're not the worst team in the conference, (but) they outhustled us tonight, and we just didn't make the adjustments."
The Lions (5-6, 1-1 SAC) shocked Wayland (7-7, 1-1) by winning the first two sets as the Pioneers seemed to missing their normal spark. But WBU found it during intermission and took the next two with relative ease to force a fifth set, seemingly with things under control and a loud WBU student section behind them.
But SAGU ignored all of that and never trailed in the fifth. The score was tied at 4-all when the Lions took the lead for good. Wayland was down by one at 8-7, but the Lions scored seven of the final nine points to escape back to Waxahachie with the upset.
Giacomazzi said the Lions simply wanted it more than the Pioneers in the fifth set.
"They were passionate; they were fired up and energized," the coach said. "That was a little disappointing."
Neither team played exceptionally well offensively, as evidenced by WBU's .089 hitting percentage and SAGU's .122. The Pioneers had 52 kills but 32 errors, compared to the Lions' 49 kills and 33 errors.
"We had a good blocking night (13 vs. 6½ vs. SAGU), but the problem was our hitting errors," Giacomazzi said. "They are a good defensive team. They did a good job of keeping the ball from hitting the floor."
SAGU wound up with 84 digs, 16 more than Wayland.
Shahala Hawkins had 21 kills (.167), one solo and six block assists, and three aces for WBU.
Chelsey Driskill added 16 kills while hitting a team-best .275. No other Pioneer had more than six kills.
Ashlyn Westerman and
Emily Welch paced the team with 11 digs apiece, and Westerman had 45 assists.
Cindy Horn had three solo and one block assist.
"There were a lot of unforced errors on our part that have to be fixed," Giacomazzi said. "I told the girls if we don't change that don't expect anything different. You'll have a another loss tomorrow."
That's when the Pioneers go up against Texas Wesleyan at 11 a.m. back in the Hutch. The Lady Rams are 3-8, 1-0, having won their SAC opener over last-place Mid-America Christian (2-11, 0-3) on Tuesday, 25-19, 25-11, 25-18.
"We're a young team as far as our composition. We have some experienced players but we're too young to understand the passion you have to have so individuals become one unit," Giacomazzi said. "We have four people that are sometimes a unit, sometimes five, but never six, seven or eight.
"But the girls are seeing that and discussing it now, so as long as they keep learning that and changing it then we'll have better results."
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