Box Score BETHANY, Okla. – With
Jim Giacomazzi turning many coaching duties over to his upperclassmen, Wayland Baptist opened the second half of its Sooner Athletic Conference volleyball schedule here Saturday with a convincing win over Southwestern Christian, 25-17, 25-22, 25-17.
"I didn't do a lot of coaching today, per se. I let some of the older girls handle a lot of that," Giacomazzi said after the win that boosted the Pioneers, ranked the equivalent of 29
th in the NAIA, to 18-5 overall and 8-1 in the conference.
Giacomazzi said he relinquished some coaching control because he feels hearing the same things from him all of the time might not be as effective as hearing it from someone different.
"Our upperclassmen were saying a lot of the same things I would be saying, but maybe they said it in a way that could be heard a little easier or that adds more validity to it," he explained. "Letting players say what needs to be said is better than me saying it all the time."
The method worked, at least to a degree, as the Pioneers – who also beat Southwestern Christian in three in the teams' SAC debut match in Plainview on Sept. 11 – cut down on their errors and hit .279 against the Eagles (10-14, 3-6), who hit .070. Wayland hit above .400 in the first set before backsliding a bit.
"We have to eliminate our errors," Giacomazzi said. "(Hitting) .279 is above what we've been doing lately, but even still we're making too many errors.
"We're making some improvement, but at times it seems like we're making two steps forward and three steps back. I feel like I'm saying the same thing over and over."
Which is why Giacomazzi decided to let someone else say it Saturday, and they did a good job.
"The girls held themselves to a much higher accountability than I would," he said. "They set a goal that third set and didn't reach, so they decided to run suicides (after the match)."
Shahala Hawkins ended with a dozen kills while hitting .429, plus got one solo and three block assists.
Chelsey Driskill added eight kills and hit .316.
Rossanna Ramos' 13 digs led the way, while
Emily Welch and
Tyler Gasaloga led in assists with 13 and 11, respectively.
Cindy Horn had a team-high three aces.
Wayland, which has won four in a row including three straight sweeps, continues its six-match road swing next Friday in Muskogee, Okla., against winless Bacone (0-18, 0-8), before heading to Siloam Springs, Ark., to take on John Brown at 11 a.m. Saturday followed by College of the Ozarks at 1 p.m.
The Pioneers had little trouble with Bacone in their first matchup, but it took five to defeat John Brown (16-6, 6-2), which sits third in the SAC behind No. 23 Oklahoma City and Wayland.
"We had to bring out every ounce of effort and concentration to win at home against them, so that gives us a little cause for concern," Giacomazzi said.
After a match at West Texas A&M in Canyon Oct. 20, the Pioneers will be back in Hutcherson Center on Oct. 23 against Mid-America Christian.
