Box Score It took less than 15 hours for the Wayland Baptist volleyball team to get the bad taste of a loss to No. 12 Oklahoma City University out its proverbial mouth as the Pioneers downed Mid-America Christian University on Saturday morning in Hutcherson Center, 25-18, 19-25, 25-18, 25-17.
The Pioneers (19-13, 12-2 Sooner Athletic Conference) recorded nine blocks – their second-highest total of the season – in downing the Lady Evangels (10-16, 2-12).
Mallorie Ellis and
Megan Sharratt recorded one solo and three block-assists each while
Jessica Stohlmann had three block-assists,
Sadie Staton two and
Elisabeth Piroli one.
"We had a lot better blocking night, which this is a good month to do it since Susan G. Komen is getting the benefit of our improved blocking," Wayland coach
Jim Giacomazzi said of his team's annual "Block for the Cure" fundraising effort.
The Pioneers also adjust their offense, and it paid big dividends.
"We made some adjustments going from a 6-2 to a 5-1. We wanted to force the middles to get more attempts, and basically we did," the coach said. "They had 70 swings out of 190, which was really good, and we came up with some better hitting percentages."
Megan Sharratt finished with a season-high 17 kills, six more than her previous best, and hit .341.
"What's really fantastic is Megan had eight digs and four blocks to go along with that," Giacomazzi said.
"We've been talking to
Mallorie Ellis about hitting higher hands, and that paid off as she had 13 kills and 15 digs, which is outstanding for her because that's a big difference in what she's been doing."
Jessica Stohlmann added nine kills as Wayland ended with 55 as a team with 18 errors and hit .194.
"Compared to the beginning of the season we're bringing our overall hitting mistakes down;" Giacomazzi said. "The only had one error the first set and only three in the last set, although we had nine in the second and five in the third, so we still need to keep working on that.
"Rossanna had another outstanding defensive game for us. She wound up having 39 digs, which averages almost 10 digs a set. That's huge. I was really pleased with that," Giacomazzi said.
Piroli finished with a season-best 44 assists.
Wayland experienced a setback with an injury to top attacker
Alex Wood midway through the second set.
"We anticipate giving her a week or two of rest and hopefully that will come back," Giacomazzi said.
Wayland plays its final regular-season road match in Chickasha, Okla., at 7 p.m. Tuesday against Science and Arts of Oklahoma (2-14, 2-12). After that, Wayland has three home matches prior to the conference tournament.
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