Pioneers earn day off after latest win

Box Score Having experienced their recent run of success in Fort Worth, Waxahachie, Shawnee and Oklahoma City, the Wayland Baptist Pioneers finally got to enjoy a victory with the home crowd in Plainview.
 
The Pioneers (12-7, 5-0 Sooner Athletic Conference) claimed their sixth straight victory on Tuesday evening in Hutcherson Center, taking out winless Science and Arts of Oklahoma in another straight-set win, 25-14, 25-21, 25-17.
 
It was Wayland's first home appearance after five straight road wins, and the Pioneers' fifth consecutive 3-0 triumph.
 
The Drovers (0-7, 0-5) put up little resistance.
 
Wayland took control of the first two sets early. USAO hung around a bit longer in set No. 3, leading 13-10 when the Pioneers put it away, too. WBU scored eight of the next nine points to begin pulling away. USAO put up two in a row before the Pioneers ended the match on a 7-1 run.
 
WBU coach Jim Giacomazzi complimented Jessica Stohlmann.
 
"Jessica had a fantastic evening. Our goal tonight was to work the middles. Our outsides have been getting lots of swings and we wanted to balance things out a bit. Jessica had 16 attempts and Megan (Sharratt) had 19, so those are good numbers for both of them. They also had good returns on their swings with seven kills each."
 
Stohlmann had .312 for Wayland while Sharratt swung .158.
 
Mallorie Ellis led Wayland with 11 kills and hit .233. The Pioneers ended with 31 kills and hit .130 compared to USAO's 23 kills and .019 hitting percentage.
 
"We had enough kills, but because we were working on the middles there were a couple of extra hitting errors," Giacomazzi said. "Our outsides didn't have a great hitting night, but they wound up contributing. Mallorie struggled at times and she sat for a bit, but she came back a little fiery and did a much better job."
 
Rossanna Ramos produced 24 of Wayland's 54 digs.
 
"Rossanna had a fantastic night digging. Those numbers are very good. She had almost half of the digs that we had for the night," Giacomazzi said.
 
Sharratt recorded six aces, while Riyana Rakrouki got 14 assists and Elisabeth Piroli 12.
 
Giacomazzi surprised his team after the win when he cancelled Wednesday's practice. It's the team's first day-off (besides Sundays) since the start of the season.
 
"They all need a break. They've been gong hard since August. We want to try to get our bodies back in shape before we hit the second half of conference."
 
Wayland has four matches to round out the first half of league play, starting with a 7 p.m. contest Friday at home against Southwestern Christian (12-3, 2-2). The Lady Eagles opened SAC play with wins over Bacone and Mid-America Christian before falling to Texas Wesleyan and John Brown. They defeated Langston in non-conference action on Monday.
 
Southwestern Christian faces a tough rest of the week, hosting No. 14 Oklahoma City (14-3, 5-0) Wednesday before coming to town to face the Pioneers on Friday.
 
Wayland and OCU are tied atop the conference. The Pioneers and Stars meet for the first of two contests on Oct. 7 in Oklahoma City to wind up the first half of league play.