Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 WAXAHACHIE – Wayland Baptist's season-opening matches at the Red River/Sooner Crossover Tournament couldn't have gone much smoother for the 19
th-ranked Pioneers, who won all four of their matches while only dropping one set. On top of that, coach
Jim Giacomazzi was able to get lots of playing time for most all of his roster, and he came away encouraged by their performance.
"We're in a good place. Everybody got lots of playing time, which was kind of the goal of it," Giacomazzi said of the tournament. "We got a lot of notes and fuel for practice, and they got sharper and a little bit more refined as the tournament went on, so that was very pleasing.
"It's been a positive experience for us."
After defeating St. Thomas, 25-18, 15-25, 25-20, 25-19 and Langston, 25-10, 25-11, 25-14, on Friday, Wayland picked up two more sweeps on Saturday over Jarvis Christian, 25-7, 25-9, 25-9, and Our Lady of the Lake, 25-15, 26-24, 25-23.
The win over OLLU was especially meaningful since the Saints are expected to win the Red River Athletic Conference and because they had already defeated three Sooner Athletic Conference teams in convincing fashion: John Brown, 3-0; Texas Wesleyan, 3-1; and Southwestern Assemblies of God, 3-0.
After easily taking the first set, the Pioneers had to dig deep in set No. 2. Wayland fell behind late in the match before managing to tie it, then
Shahala Hawkins iced it with a kill and an ace on set point.
"I was very impressed with the win in the second set," Giacomazzi said. "Shahala just stepped up and said, 'Give me the ball.' She just dominated.
"We got to see a glimpse of what fun is and what's not fun. Losing the lead after having a five-point lead allowed them to see I'm not happy when we're playing poorly. You can't accept mediocrity, and we had to figure out how to get out of that funk and realize, 'I have to do something.'"
The coach said the Pioneers also saw that they need more "killer instinct.
"The last set when it's 19-11, we weren't able to go ahead and put them away. They outscored us the last half of that set, so we need to work on that.
"But that was a good win. They're probably going to win the Red River."
Hawkins ended with four aces, 18 kills and hit .519 as Wayland had 40 kills and hit .272 as a team, compared to OLLU's .162.
Chelsey Driskill added nine kills with no errors (.529) while
Cindy Horn had eight kills. The Pioneers also recorded 40 digs, led by
Rossanna Ramos with 12. Wayland had seven blocks, with Driskill getting two solo and two assists.
Cat Wiechmann's 17 assists led the way, followed by
Emily Welch with 15.
Against Jarvis, Wayland hit .565 with just three errors on 69 swings.
"I'm very happy with that," Giacomazzi said. Jarvis hit -.143.
Hawkins again wound up with 18 kills and no errors and hit .783 while again serving up four aces and getting one solo block and three assists. Driskill and Horn chipped in five kills apiece, Ramos had 14 digs, and Wiechmann and Welch had 18 and 17 assists, respectively.
Giacomazzi was impressed by Horn and freshman
Jessica Stohlmann.
"Cindy worked out a lot over the summer and it's showing," the coach said. "I'm pleased wot see she's doing as well as she is."
"We're getting a lot of touches on the ball in stressful situations and starting to learn to play in game situations," Giacomazzi said. "In this match we worked a lot on technique, quality of the serve and readiness to play defense. Those are some things they're improving upon, but we're still a long ways away.
"Players are starting to know what each other is doing. That's getting better all the time."
The competition will get more intense next weekend when the Pioneers head to New Orleans for the Big Easy Blastoff, taking on two Alabama teams – Mobile and Faulkner – at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Friday and two Louisiana teams – Xavier and Loyola – at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday. Mobile received votes in the NAIA Top 25 Preseason Poll.
The competition really ramps up after that as Wayland heads to Columbia, Mo., for a tournament which will see the Pioneers take on No. 10 Columbia, No. 3 Missouri Baptist and top-ranked Park, Mo. That leads into the team's home and SAC debut on Sept. 11 against Southwestern Christian.
