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Box Score 2 DES MOINES, Iowa – Wayland Baptist stretched the defending NAIA national champions to five sets before falling to Columbia, Mo., as the Pioneers wrapped up the prestigious Grand View Invitational here Saturday.
The Pioneers began the day by taking on No. 19 Jamestown, N.D., and lost in three, 25-22, 25-19, 25-21. Wayland, ranked the equivalent of 37
th in the NAIA, then came back strong against Columbia, which is ranked the equivalent of 32
nd. The Pioneers took the defending champs to the brink before ultimately falling, 26-24, 21-25, 25-9, 23-25, 15-11.
On Friday, Wayland (17-12) dropped matches to No. 4 Viterbo, Wisc., 25-14, 25-16, 25-11, and to No. 23 Indiana Wesleyan, 25-19, 25-13, 25-15.
"Every team we played this weekend is ranked above us," WBU coach
Jim Giacomazzi pointed out. "It was great for us to see that we're pretty good, but we still have things to work on. We have to increase our speed of recognition and the speed with which we make adjustments."
In what Giacomazzi called a "well-fought match" against Columbia, the Pioneers "got to see some very, very good players, and we were able to keep up with them. They're going to wind up a top 20 team."
In the fifth set, the score was tied at 11 when things went south for Wayland.
"We got into a bad rotation and their player of the year last year was hammering away at us. We just couldn't get another point."
Preliminary statistics showed
Alex Wood with 14 kills,
Mallorie Ellis with 10,
Katie Inman with eight and
Megan Sharratt with six against one error.
Sadie Staton had five slams in 15 attempts with no errors, drawing praise from Giacomazzi.
"Sadie had a real good match," he said.
Rossanna Ramos finished with 25 digs while
Riyana Rakrouki and
Jordan Breding both got 16.
Elisabeth Piroli served up 23 assists while Rakrouki got 13. Wayland tallied nine block-assists, three by
Jessica Stohlmann and two each by Inman and Staton.
Both Wayland and Columbia were battling injuries, according to Giacomazzi.
"We're probably three or four weeks from being completely healthy," he said. "Managing our injuries is key for our success over the next couple of weeks. We haven't had this many injuries in the past 10 years.
"The big challenge for us over the next couple of weeks is getting good repetitions against quality competition."
Statistics against Jamestown were not immediately available.
The Pioneers remain on the road this weekend as they return to Sooner Athletic Conference play to take on Bacone (2-15, 1-10) at 3 p.m. Sunday in Muskogee, Okla. Wayland rolled over the Warriors when they met Oct. 1 in Plainview, 25-9, 25-15, 25-14.
"Hopefully we can get back on a winning streak," Giacomazzi said. "If we play with the intensity we played with today against Columbia, we should be OK."
It will be Wayland's sixth match in five days.
"I think this was good to prepare us for the conference tournament once our conference is complete," Giacomazzi said. "Now we need all the rest we can get."
