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Box Score 2 SALINA, Kan. – Another tournament, yet another split for the Wayland Baptist volleyball team.
For the third straight weekend, the Pioneers split four tournament matches, on Sunday rolling over event host Kansas Wesleyan, 25-23, 26-24, 25-20, before falling to Tabor (Kan.), 28-26, 25-18, 25-19, in the LaQuinta Kansas Wesleyan Invitational. On Saturday, Wayland (6-6) also had two sweeps, taking out Central Christian (Kan.), 25-23, 25-17, 25-11, while bowing to Graceland (Iowa), 25-16, 25-22, 25-19.
"This weekend was three steps forward, two steps back. The good thing is we are moving forward," Wayland coach
Jim Giacomazzi said. "I see the talent we have and I want to move faster than a glacier melts. But sometimes we need to run the race like the tortoise and not the hare."
Giacomazzi called his team's performance against Kansas Wesleyan its best of the season.
"We kept our errors to a minimum and we executed the fundamentals well from beginning to end. The ball control, free balls and balls that were hit easy made their way to the setters with more accuracy. We were able to have offensive options. It was a fun match to watch."
Wayland, which played short-handed this weekend due to a handful of injured players, is ranked the equivalent of 34
th in the Tachikara-NAIA Coaches' Preseason Top 25 while Kansas Wesleyan (4-5) is 37
th.
Statistics were not immediately available.
Giacomazzi was hoping to put back-to-back quality matches together, but that didn't happen to the extent he wanted when the Pioneers faced Tabor.
Against Tabor (3-3), which on Saturday fell to both Texas Wesleyan and Benedictine University in four before defeating Bacone early Sunday, Wayland trailed in the first set, 21-13, before rallying. The Pioneers fought off three matches points to tie it at 24-all, and even took a 26-25 lead on a kill by
Alex Wood. But Tabor won the next three points, two on attack errors by Wayland, to win it.
Still, Giacomazzi said the fight by his team to stay alive was encouraging.
"We generated great momentum and saw what we needed to do to win, but we lost our ability to control free balls, and when we did get a good ball to the setter, we didn't put it down for a number of different reasons," the coach said.
The second set was close most of the way (Wayland was within 18-17), until Tabor seven of the last eight points to win, 25-18.
The Pioneers were seemingly in control of the third set, up 13-8, until another late push by Tabor. Wayland led 18-15 when Tabor scored eight straight as part of a 10-1 match-ending run.
Wayland ended with 35 kills and hit .101 while Tabor was at 45 kills and hit .255. Wood paced the Pioneers with 18 kills and hit .159 while
Megan Sharratt and
Mallorie Ellis had seven kills each (Sharratt hit .313). Wood and
Rossanna Ramos ended with 10 digs each, Ramod served up two aces, Sharratt had one solo and two block-assists, and
Elisabeth Piroli and
Riyana Rakrouki provided 20 and 13 assists, respectively.
"I believe we all know what we need to do to improve, and with hard work and intelligence we will get there soon," Giacomazzi said.
Wayland returns to action Tuesday when the Pioneers host Texas-Permian Basin at 6 p.m. in Hutcherson Center in the team's final tune-up before Sooner Athletic Conference play begins next weekend on the road against Texas Wesleyan and Southwestern Assemblies of God University. After Tuesday, WBU plays five in a row on the road.
