Volleyballers repeat as SAC champs, earn rematch with SGU

Box Score According to Jim Giacomazzi, the Wayland Baptist volleyball team is beginning to reap the rewards of lots and lots of hard work.

"The neat thing about working so hard since August is that we were able to accomplish our first goal of winning the conference championship," Giacomazzi said after the Pioneers repeated their Sooner Athletic Conference title by rolling over St. Gregory's University in their final regular-season match Thursday night at Hutcherson Center, 25-9, 25-8, 25-16.

"We get to start out with a No. 8 seed because of the hard work they put in, and now everything goes through Plainview," Giacomazzi said of the upcoming conference tournament.

The eight-team event gets under way at 11 a.m. Saturday when top-seeded Wayland (26-7, 15-1 SAC), ranked the equivalent of 26^th in the NAIA, and St. Gregory's (7-17, 3-13) meet for a rematch of Thursday's contest in the first round of the conference tourney.

Wayland will continue to host matches as long as the Pioneers continue to win, with the semifinals set for Wednesday, Nov. 11, followed by the championship on Saturday, Nov. 14.

The tournament champion gets an automatic berth to the NAIA National Championships.

Giacomazzi feels the Pioneers are primed for the post-season.

"This part of the season is all mental, and the girls are going out with focus and intensity," he said. "Like I told them, we've been in boot camp since August, and boot camp just ended. Now's time for war. We have to go out and do our jobs, cover our backs, and make sure nobody can flank us."

St. Greg's didn't stand a chance of doing that Thursday as Wayland controlled the Senior Night match from beginning to end.

The Pioneers hit .305, with Shahala Hawkins getting 10 kills and hitting .409, followed by Chelsey Driskill with nine kills and a .389 hitting percentage. Mallorie Ellis added eight kills.

Hawkins recorded three solo blocks and four block-assists, while Rossanna Ramos ended with 12 digs and Emily Welch 11. Tyler Gasaloga's 18 assists led the way, followed by Welch with 15. Horn ended with three aces.

"We did a good job hitting our service areas and a great job on serve receive tonight," Giacomazzi said. "The girls did a good job keeping the ball in play and giving the other team an opportunity to make mistakes (SGU hit -.078).
 
"As we get into this part of the season, that's what we want to do. We want to try to get runs of three and four points at a time when we go back and serve, and the way that happens is solid defense and blocking and quality approaches to make a quality swing at the end to get the kill.
 
"Those were things we focused on. We're trying to do things better on our side of the net and just keep adding to that."
 
Seniors Hawkins, Driskill, Welch and Cat Wiechmann were recognized before the match, along with dedicated broadcasters Matt and Genene Driskill.