Box Score WAXAHACHIE – The eve of All Hallows Eve couldn't have turned out much better for the Wayland Baptist volleyball team.
Not only did the No. 25 Pioneers take down the Southwestern Assemblies of God Lady Lions in three, 25-18, 25-13, 25-17, here Friday night, over in Fort Worth the Texas Wesleyan Lady Rams did Wayland a huge favor by knocking off Oklahoma City University, 24-25, 25-22, 25-16, 25-23.
What that did was give Wayland the inside track on defending its Sooner Athletic Conference title as well as solidify that the SAC Tournament championship will go through Plainview, making Wayland the favorite for the No. 1 seed and the right to host all of its tournament matches.
"It was a good night for Wayland," Pioneers coach
Jim Giacomazzi said.
The Pioneers (24-7 overall, 13-1 SAC) weren't quite at full strength, what with unsettling injuries to seniors
Shahala Hawkins and
Chelsey Driskill, as well as
Cat Wiechmann. But Wayland dug deep and came up with the relatively easy win over the Lady Lions (17-11, 7-7).
"Shahala and Chelsey may have been a half-step slow, but they showed a lot of resiliency," Giacomazzi said. "Everybody played well. We're showing some improvements.
"SAGU came up with some runs, but as a team we stepped up with a timely dig or a timely block," he added.
Hawkins ended with 12 kills and hit .370, while Driskill put down eight balls and hit .400.
Cindy Horn also recorded eight kills and hit .261. As a team the Pioneers swung at a .267 clip. SAGU hit .052.
"We had some quality swings and kills and some blocks at key times. Our blocking was good again," Giacomazzi said.
Wayland wound up with two solo blocks and 11 block assists, with Hawkins getting one of the solo blocks and seven assists. Driskill had the other solo alog with four assists, while
Katie Inman finished with five assists and Horn three.
The Pioneers dug 70 balls, led by
Rossanna Ramos with 18 and Horn with 10. Ramos also had three aces while
Tyler Gasaloga and
Emily Welch dished out 19 and 12 assists, respectively.
Giacomazzi said he's starting to see a lot of positives from the Pioneers.
"Some of the mistakes we've been making, we're eliminating those now. It's refreshing to see that the hard work, and my nagging, is starting to pay off.
"They're doing a lot of talking by the way they're playing out on the court."
Like most Friday nights, the Pioneers can't celebrate long since they now have to focus on taking on the same Texas Wesleyan team that knocked off OCU. The Pioneers will be in Fort Worth to meet the sky-high, third-place Rams (21-9, 10-3) at 11 a.m. Saturday.
