Volleyball ends regular-season on sour note

Box Score The regular-season ended with a bit of a thud for the Wayland Baptist volleyball team on Saturday morning in Hutcherson Center as the Pioneers fell to Texas Wesleyan in three, 25-16, 25-21, 25-22.
 
Playing at less than 100 percent due to multiple injuries, the Pioneers (22-14, 15-3 Sooner Athletic Conference) never quite seemed to get in sync against the Lady Rams (27-4, 14-4), the first SAC team besides No. 12 Oklahoma City to defeat Wayland all season.
 
Thankfully, Wayland nailed down the runner-up position in the conference and the No. 2 seed in the upcoming conference tournament Friday with a win over Southwestern Assemblies of God University. In that match, junior right-side hitter Katie Inman suffered an ankle injury that kept her out of Saturday's action. The Pioneers did see junior left-side hitter Alex Wood return from a shoulder injury, but in a limited role.
 
As a result, Wayland hit just .039 in the match, producing 28 kills with 22 errors. Texas Wesleyan had 47 kills against 18 errors and hit .200.
 
Megan Sharratt led the Pioneers with 10 kills while hitting .059. Sadie Staton added six smashes (.115) and Mallorie Ellis five.
 
Rossanna Ramos added to her freshly-set school digs record by recording 20, followed by Ellis with 17 and Jordan Breding with 14. Jessica Stohlmann managed two solo blocks while Hanna Fridriksdottir had WBU's lone ace. Riyana Rakrouki tallied all but five of the Pioneers' 28 assists.
 
Wayland played from behind most of the match. After dropping the first two sets, it appeared the Pioneers might go down without much of a fight, trailing 17-8 in the third. But the home team scored five unanswered points to get back in it, then tied it at 21 following two attack errors by the Lady Rams and a kill by Stohlmann.
 
But Wayland petered out after that as Texas Wesleyan scored four of the next five points – all off of kills – to end the match.
 
Wayland will host all of its matches in the SAC Tournament, including its first-round contest Tuesday against seventh-seeded SAGU (16-16, 8-10). That match is tentatively scheduled for 7 p.m.
 
SAGU, which Wayland defeated Friday, 17-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-17, tied for sixth place with Southwestern Christian but was assigned the No. 7 seed due to head-to-head results between those teams.
 
Wayland could see a rematch with third-seed Texas Wesleyan in the semifinals Friday in a battle that will reward the winner with a trip to NAIA Nationals based on the SAC being granted two automatic bids. Semifinal matches are scheduled for 4:30 and 7 p.m. Friday, with the championship at 11 a.m. Saturday.