Box Score Jim Giacomazzi said going into Saturday afternoon's NAIA Volleyball National Championship opening round match against Ottawa University (Kan.) that he was concerned about the Braves' defense.
He had reason to be.
"Ottawa's defense shined," the Wayland Baptist coach said after the Braves took Hutcherson Center by storm and rolled to a 25-18, 25-22, 25-19 win over the Pioneers. "They outdug us by 23 digs, and because of the quality of the dig, they wound up having 16 more kills than we had."
The outcome was much different than when these teams met two years ago in a national tournament opener. The Pioneers won that 2013 matchup in three and went on to advance to the national tournament semifinals in Sioux City, Iowa.
This time, the Braves (34-4), ranked the equivalent of 31
st in the NAIA, move on to the final site – one of 24 teams in Sioux City – for the first time in their history while Wayland, the equivalent of 26
th, ends its season with a 29-8 record after being shutout at home in a national tournament opener for the second year in a row.
"We didn't have that killer instinct," Giacomazzi said of his team's play Saturday. "You could sense in the eyes of Ottawa that they wanted it more than we did."
Giacomazzi said the Pioneers – playing without injured starter
Katie Inman – were not themselves throughout the match.
"We were a little tight," he said. "We were too concerned that this would be our last match."
That thought seemed to snowball the longer the match continued.
Wayland led early in the first game, 5-2, before the Braves found their groove, especially outside hitters Avery Enzbrenner and Janaya Fox. Down 12-9, Ottawa ran off 13 of the next 16 points behind swings from Enzbrenner and Fox to take command.
"Both teams were nervous starting out," Giacomazzi said. "We capitalized on their mistakes and then we made mistakes and they capitalized. Our four-or five-point lead deteriorated and it became a match."
Wayland jumped ahead again in the second set, tallying five straight points on its way to a 16-11 edge. The Pioneers were up 21-18 when the Braves made their move, benefiting from a series of kills and WBU attack errors to record seven of the next eight points and assume a two-game lead.
"We had some long rallies but we ended those long rallies with hitting errors, or because we didn't terminate soon enough by having a quality dig to get the ball to our main hitters, they were able to get the ball to their main hitters and they terminated," Giacomazzi said. "They got more swings and had more quality swings."
The Pioneers began pressing even harder in the third set, which never really came together for Wayland. The game was tied for the last time at 7-all, at which point the Braves went on a 12-4 run to again take control.
Wayland fought off three match-points before Ottawa handed the Pioneers their fifth three-set loss of the season. The first four were to defending national champion Park, Mo., then No. 3 Missouri Baptist, and NCAA Division II's West Texas A&M and Lubbock Christian.
"They saw that we were human and they were able to put the screws to us," Giacomazzi said of the Braves, who notched their 12
th straight victory and 25
th in their last 26 outings.
Shahala Hawkins ended her WBU career with 14 kills while hitting .297 to go with three solo blocks and four block-assists. Fellow senior
Chelsey Driskill wound up with seven kills and hit .227, while junior
Cindy Horn put down 13 kills, one off her career-high, and hit .500.
"Cindy had a career day," Giacomazzi said.
Wayland hit .225 as a team, compared to Ottawa's .297. Fox led the Braves with 18 kills, hitting .571, while Enzbrenner got 15 kills and hit .294.
"They did their job, and their libero (Hannah Sittig) did a fine job. She had 23 digs," Giacomazzi said.
Rossanna Ramos' 15 digs led WBU, followed by
Machala Noack with 12.
Emily Welch handed out 16 assists and
Tyler Gasaloga 11. Each team had five service errors.
Giacomazzi said the Pioneers are disappointed, of course, but "we have to look on the positive.
"We'll lick our wounds for a couple of days, understanding the disappointment that we left some chips on the table that we should have picked up. Then we can look back and see the success we had this year. We had a very strong season."
Looking ahead, Giacomazzi said it won't be the same next season without seniors Hawkins, Driskill, Welch and
Cat Wiechmann.
"Shahala had another all-American year. She's one of the top two or three players in Wayland volleyball history," he said. "We'll miss the leadership that Cat has shown, especially over the last month. Emily stepped up and played out of position and did a fantastic job setting for us this year. Chelsey always had solid play at the net defensively and helped us out with our offense and scoring.
"It was a lot of fun having those four girls and seeing them grow the last four years, watching them mature as volleyball players and women. They are going to be fantastic ladies to watch. They are all career-oriented and are going to be successful in whatever they choose to do. Some of my fondest memories will be reflecting on the last four years and them helping develop a program that is successful because of their personalities and their character."
Without them, Giacomazzi said, "We'll be a different team."
"Our recruiting is ongoing. The girls we have committed and that we're chasing right now will make it an interesting fall and spring to see who winds up coming to Wayland."
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