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Box Score 2 COLUMBIA, Mo. – Wayland Baptist bounced back from its first loss of the season to No. 10 Columbia, Mo., by defeating Lindenwood-Belleville, Ill., on Friday at the Hampton Inn Classic. Both scores were in four as the No. 19 Pioneers fell to Columbia, 25-21, 20-25, 25-23, 25-20, before rebounding against Lindenwood-Belleville, 25-15, 18-25, 25-23, 25-16.
"It was a win," WBU coach
Jim Giacomazzi said after his Pioneers (9-1), slowed by illness all week, triumphed on Friday night. "We're tired…very, very tired. I'm surprised they did as well as they did. We have two girls that haven't been sick."
After falling to Columbia, Wayland responded well in the first set against Lindenwood-Belleville (1-3), winning 25-15 on the strength of five aces. But the Pioneers stumbled in the second set, losing 25-18 to the team that fell in three earlier in the day to No. 4 Viterbo, Wis.
"Sometimes you have to take a set loss to get some wind," Giacomazzi said. "You have to give them those opportunities so they can learn and so they can make the most of their opportunities the next time."
Whatever the strategy, it worked as the Pioneers took the next two sets, winning the third, 25-23, on a closing tip by
Cindy Horn, then rolling in the fourth, 25-16.
Giacomazzi said the Pioneers were "a little bit flat-footed. When you get tired, you tend to go to whatever's easiest, and when you do that all of a sudden the ball is playing you.
"We were tired, frustrated, had no legs… Now you have to concentrate harder, and they did that. Those were some of the things we were happy with."
Statistics were not immediately available. Unofficially,
Shahala Hawkins ended with 16 kills, four block assists and one solo block.
Chelsey Driskill tacked on a dozen kills.
Against Columbia (4-2), which fell to No. 4 Viterbo on Saturday night in four, Wayland split the first two sets, falling 25-21 and winning 25-20. The Pioneers led most of the third until the tournament host took its first lead, 22-21. Wayland won the next point to tie it up, but the Cougars won three of the next four to put it away.
"I was disappointed we didn't keep the lead," Giacomazzi said. "We made some mistakes to let them back in it."
Columbia also finished strong in the fourth set, which was tied at 20 before the Cougars won the next five points to close out the match.
"It's hard to beat a team that's hitting that well," Giacomazzi said of Columbia. "We made some good adjustments, and I was pleased with how we were slowing the ball down (blocking).
"I'm always upset when we lose a set or a match. That's always disappointing. But I was pleased with the work and effort, especially that fourth set. We could have let them be a bulldozer and run over us, but we stayed in there.
"Some of the things we've been talking about were implemented against a quality opponent," the coach said. "Our setters are working on becoming polished, but they made good decisions.
"We need to clean up some lapses of concentration we sometimes have for four or five points at a time."
Wayland hit .250, versus Columbia's .238. Hawkins had 24 kills and hit .476, to go with two solo blocks and three block assists.
Chelsey Driskill added 15 kills and hit .480.
Rossanna Ramos led the way with 13 digs, while
Emily Welch and
Cat Wiechmann dished out 22 and 18 assists, respectively.
The Pioneers have two more tough matches Saturday, taking on unbeaten and third-ranked Missouri Baptist (8-0) at 9 a.m. followed by top-ranked Park, Mo., the defending NAIA national champion, at 1 p.m. The Pirates are 2-1 after being swept by No. 7 Lindsey-Wilson on Friday then defeating No. 23 Lewis-Clark State in four.
