Box Score SHAWNEE, Okla. – After suffering a setback Friday against John Brown, the No. 22 Wayland Baptist volleyball team bounced back Saturday against St. Gregory's, winning the match, 3-0.
In the first set, the Pioneers (9-8, 3-2) traded leads with the Cavaliers, but with the score tied, 10-10, WBU started to pull away.
Wayland posted an 11-3 run on SGU (5-12, 1-3), giving itself an eight-point lead and putting the first set out of reach. The Pioneers hit a match-high .313 in the first set, putting down 13 kills, taking the set, 25-17.
The second set proved to be the toughest for the Pioneers, but WBU was still able to eventually pull away for the Cav's.
Wayland and St. Gregory's traded leads three times, including six ties, and the Cavaliers never let the lead slip beyond four points. Having not seen a tie or a lead since the score was 10-10, the Cavaliers battled back to bring themselves within a point, 18-17, after Kayrin Wells put down one of her three kills.
It was all Wayland after that, however, as the Pioneers scored seven straight points to close out the set, 25-17.
With the Pioneers up two sets to none, head coach
Jim Giacomazzi was able to give some of his regular players a rest while also getting other members of the team some valuable experience.
"In the last set, we were able to give Shahala (Hawkins), who had a match-high 20 attempts, and Cindy (Horn) some rest in that last set while also getting our bench some good, game-time experience," Giacomazzi said. "With them getting more playing time, we got to see a variety of looks to try and develop some depth."
With their all-American on the bench in the final set, the Pioneers won by their largest margin of the match, 25-11.
Hawkins had a match-high 14 kills on 10 attempts (.650) despite only playing two sets, while
Katie Inman was second on the team with seven kills.
Chelsey Driskill also put in a solid performance, putting down six kills, hitting .353 on the day.
Ashlyn Westerman recorded 35 assists while
Emily Welch and
Cat Wiechmann led the team in digs with 12 and 11 apiece.
Percentage wise, the Pioneers didn't hit as well as they did in their loss to John Brown, but their defense was the key in Saturday's match. Wayland held the Cavaliers to a
-.050 hitting percentage, giving up just 19 kills in the match. The Pioneers also recorded five total blocks in the match.
"I'm pleased with the work we did today and the changes that they made (from Friday to Saturday)," Giacomazzi said. "We just need to give some attention to some little details that we still need to get better at.
"The challenge for us has been the level of competition. We've played some tough teams really well and we're mentally ready to go for those matches. When we're playing a team that is not as good, we still have to go out and have the same mentality and have concentration throughout the entire match."
Giacomazzi went on to say that they "want to play a high-quality game where it won't matter what the other team does."
The Pioneers return to Hutcherson Center when they host West Texas A&M at 7 p.m. Tuesday before returning to conference play Friday when they host Oklahoma City at 7 p.m.
