Box Score MUSKOGEE, Okla. – After four losses to tough competition at a tournament in Iowa on Friday and Saturday, the Wayland Baptist volleyball team returned to Sooner Athletic Conference play and got back to its winning ways here Sunday afternoon as the Pioneers downed Bacone College, 25-22, 25-16, 25-18.
"They did a good job working on some things to try to prepare us for Oklahoma City," Wayland coach
Jim Giacomazzi said. "We tried to diversify our offensive attacking with different types of shots."
Playing for the sixth time in five days and ending an eight-match road swing, Wayland (18-12, 11-1 SAC) – ranked the equivalent of 37
th in the NAIA – produced 47 kills and hit .268 as a team, led by
Jessica Stohlmann's .583 she accrued while getting seven kills on 12 swings with no errors.
Alex Wood put down a team-best 15 kills and hit .333 while
Megan Sharratt had eight kills and
Mallorie Ellis seven.
"Offensively, it was a reflection of the quality of the competition," Giacomazzi said.
Three Pioneers had double-digit digs:
Rossanna Ramos with 13 and Wood 10 and Jordan Breeding with 10 apiece. Sharratt provided half of Wayland's six aces while
Elisabeth Piroli and
Riyana Rakrouki had 21 and 17 assists, respectively.
Bacone (2-16, 1-11) hit .143.
"This week we really need to work on our blocking. We did really well against Columbia (on Saturday) slowing the ball down, but we didn't do so well against Bacone. We didn't hold ourselves to a high enough standard with the effort we were giving on each play."
Next up for Wayland is No. 13 Oklahoma City (22-3, 13-0) at 7 p.m. Friday in Hutcherson Center. The Pioneers will be looking to grab a share of the SAC lead with a win over the Stars, who defeated Wayland in Oklahoma City on Oct. 7, 25-22, 25-22, 25-22.
Giacomazzi said the four matches Wayland played in Des Moines on Friday and Saturday against three ranked teams and the defending national champion should pay dividends when the Pioneers take the floor against OCU.
"I'm pleased with the amount of work we got in, and being able to see some quality competition. Hopefully it will be beneficial to the team and they see how much harder they need to work. They need to hold themselves accountable with every practice and every game situation to keep striving to get better.
"Everything we do is a test," the coach added. "We want to be above average, and to be above average we have to do things we haven't done before and retain the new experiences and add to them."
Friday's match will be Pink Out for cancer awareness.
