The fact that the Tabor College Bluejays will be playing in their first-ever NAIA National Championships match when they visit Plainview from Kansas on Saturday evening doesn't necessarily fill Wayland Baptist coach
Jim Giacomazzi with confidence.
Giacomazzi remembers four years ago when Wayland was a newcomer to the national tournament scene and, instead of being overwhelmed by the moment, the Pioneers caught lightning in a bottle and advanced all the way to the national semifinals.
"They'll come out with a lot of fire and enthusiasm," Giacomazzi said of the Bluejays. "I think they have three seniors on their team, and they'd like to see what the next level is like."
The next level – the NAIA National Championships Final Site in Sioux City, Iowa, – is where either Wayland (24-15) or Tabor (25-9) will be headed following their 6 p.m. Opening Round match Saturday in Hutcherson Center.
"Just qualifying (for nationals) for most teams is not enough," Giacomazzi said. "We were really hungry that first year we qualified. We preached to them weeks in advance that we want to get to nationals and win several matches.
"You don't know how far you can go unless you put out both complete physical and mental effort."
Saturday's contest will be a rematch of the teams' Sept. 4 meeting at a tournament in Salina, Kan. The Bluejays prevailed, 28-26, 25-18, 25-19.
"It's nice getting to play people a second time," Giacomazzi said. "Having played Tabor earlier in the season makes us a feel a little bit more comfortable due to the fact we have more film on them than we normally would have.
"Having seen them play against tough competition was beneficial for us, and the fact we played them the first time we were missing some players and played a different type of defense at the time. We feel our defense has been much more refined since the first of September and a lot of our people have gotten a lot more experience."
Wayland was without hitters
Katie Inman, who didn't even make the trip, and
Jessica Stohlmann, who was injured that weekend, when the Pioneers took on Tabor the first time. Neither is fully recovered, and others have joined them.
"We are still tender in several key positions," Giacomazzi said. "Alex (Wood) has a sore shoulder, plus Mallorie (Ellis) isn't 100 percent, not to mention Rossanna (Ramos) got a real good Charlie horse against Texas Wesleyan" in the conference tournament semifinals.
The good news is that the Pioneers have dealt with injury setbacks and shuffled line-ups all season, so there's not a whole lot that can rattle them at this stage.
"We've been rolling with it and adapting both the offense and the defense because the personnel has changed so much throughout the year," Giacomazzi said.
As for Tabor, the Bluejays sport "two strong outside hitters" in seniors Tena Loewen and Amy Horner. The 5-foot-11 Loewen ranks ninth in the NAIA in kills per game (4.34) as well as sixth in aces per game (.620). She's hitting .195 on the season. The 5-10 Horner, of Artesia, N.M., averages 3.49 kills per games and hits .180.
"For us to have success we need to slow their ball down, minimize the number of kills those two players get, and hopefully as we slow the ball down we're able to transition from defense to allow us to have a quality set so we can run a play," Giacomazzi said. "We have a lot more success when we're hitting the ball versus tipping it."
After advancing to the national tournament semifinals in 2013, Wayland has lost in the opening round the past two seasons, falling to Evangel, Mo., and Ottawa, Kan. Giacomazzi would like nothing better than to snap that streak Saturday when the Pioneers face another Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference team in Tabor.
"Overall the team has come together at the right time to have the most success we can have with whoever is out there," he said. "Everybody has enough experience to know what we're supposed to be doing and how we're supposed to do it."
For more on the NAIA National Championships, visit
www.naia.org.
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