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Box Score 2 SAN ANTONIO – Wayland Baptist captured wins in both of its season-opening matches here Friday, defeating Xavier University of Louisiana and Tennessee Wesleyan in straight sets during the Our Lady of the Lakes Saints Classic.
"We're taking baby steps," Wayland coach
Jim Giacomazzi said following the wins, 25-22, 25-16, 25-23 over Xavier and 25-18, 25-15, 25-16 over Tennessee Wesleyan.
Against Xavier in the season-opener, the Pioneers – ranked the equivalent of 34
th in the NAIA Top 25 Preseason Poll – hit .109 and committed 25 errors before improving their numbers against Tennessee Wesleyan to .216 with 18 errors.
"The first set (against Xavier) was error-plagued by both teams. We committed 18 errors, which means they only earned four points," Giacomazzi said.
Wayland cleaned it up a bit in the second set ("We eliminated a bunch of errors and it looked pretty good," Giacomazzi said) but reverted to mistake-prone volleyball in set three.
Sophomore
Mallorie Ellis led the way with 11 kills and 12 digs, while newcomers Kristi Epley, a junior transfer, and freshman
Alex Wood recorded seven and six kills, respectively. Junior transfer
Elisabeth Piroli managed six aces to go along with 22 assists and 10 digs, while
Rossanna Ramos, the lone senior on the floor for Wayland in the absence of injured
Cindy Horn, dug 20 balls.
"It's early," Giacomazzi said. "From a coaching point of view, sometimes we get frustrated because as soon as you introduce a ball and a whistle they forget what their training was and revert to their old ways. Hopefully we can start implementing some of those skills and techniques that we've been working on."
And that's just what Wayland did in its afternoon match against Tennessee Wesleyan, which lost to No. 20 Evangel, Mo., 3-1, in its opener.
"We took two steps forward," Giacomazzi said. "Our setters made better decisions, defensively we went for a lot more balls, we picked up more digs, our blocking started to come around... ."
After Xavier hit .089 against Wayland, Tennessee Wesleyan struggled to -.042.
Ellis ended with nine kills, Wood eight and junior
Megan Sharratt five. Ellis also had three aces, while Epley registered three of Wayland's seven blocks. Ramos dug 18 balls and Wood 11, while freshman setter
Riyana Rakrouki's 16 assists were promising.
"We clicked a little better," said Giacomazzi, who added that "the threat of doing pushups had an effect" on the team's serving. "We're eliminating mistakes and they're recognizing what they need to do and recognizing it faster. Things are looking a lot better. There are fewer voices in their heads.
"We still have a lot of rough edges, but they're not as sharp (as after the first match). Hopefully we can polish things up a little bit more (Saturday)."
Wayland takes on No. 20 Evangel at 11 a.m. followed by host Our Lady of the Lake at 3 p.m. OLLU topped Xavier, 3-1, before meeting Evangel in the final match Friday.
"Both teams have (national) tournament experience," Giacomazzi said. "Both also lost a lot of players (from last season), so none of us are anywhere near where we were last year.
"We're definitely a work in progress. It's going to take a little bit of time, but I'm encouraged by the hard work they put in and by their desire to get better. They're acknowledging the mistakes they made and starting to coach themselves.
"They're trying…they're recognizing it, and after recognition comes the implementation."
