Pioneers drop final SAC tune-up

Box Score Wanting his team on the court as much as possible to develop cohesiveness, Wayland Baptist volleyball coach Jim Giacomazzi got his wish Tuesday afternoon in Hutcherson Center as the Pioneers and Texas-Permian Basin played five sets over a span of almost 2½ hours. The only negative part was Wayland came out on the short end of its final tune-up before the start of conference play, 26-24, 22-25, 18-25, 25-21, 15-13.
 
"It was great to just be on the court for five sets," Giacomazzi said. "We got more play time and got to make decisions under stressful situations."
 
And, the coach said the cohesiveness he seeks for his injury-riddled team featuring nine new players is beginning to happen.
 
"They're starting to become more of one unit instead of six individuals. The more they're out there, the more they're learning to play together, so that's encouraging."
 
Wayland (6-7), which was ranked the equivalent of 34^th in the NAIA Coaches' Top 25 but did not receive any votes in the first regular-season poll released earlier Tuesday, dropped the first set after leading 23-22 as UTPB (4-1) won four of the next five points to prevail, 26-24. In turn, the second set saw the Pioneers finish strong as Wayland recorded four of the last five points to win, 25-22.
 
Following a 10-minute intermission, the third set saw UTPB score the first four points before the Pioneers came storming back with eight straight points under the serve of Alex Wood. Mallorie Ellis had a pair of kills in the run, which ended with an ace by Wood.
 
After the Falcons scored one to make it 8-5, Wayland immediately went on another run, this one five in a row – including four attack errors by UTPB – to assume a 13-5 edge. WBU's lead grew to as many as 10, and the Pioneers closed it out, 25-18.
 
It was UTPB's turn at a run in the fourth set as the Falcons went on a 7-1 spurt to take a 14-7 lead. The Pioneers managed to close to within 22-21 following another ace by Wood and a kill by Megan Sharratt, but UTPB responded with a pair of kills and a block to force Wayland's first five-set match of the season.
 
Wayland was on top 6-3, but the Falcons scored six of the next seven to assume the upper hand for good. An unlikely kill by Riyana Rakrouki on a no-look, under-handed swing that saw the ball roll along the net before falling pulled Wayland to within 13-12, but the Falcons fought off the charge and won the match on a kill by Travanna Matthews.
 
Wayland hit .098 for the match with 51 kills, compared to .160 and 59 kills for UTPB. Ellis ended with 18 kills, Wood 17 and Sharratt nine.
 
"The total number of kills was pretty good for Mallorie and Alex, but in a five-set match we'd like six or seven more for Megan," Giacomazzi said. "Take away an error or two and making a better end result of those 31 attempts she had…that will come."
 
Rossanna Ramos wounded up with 24 digs and Wood 22, while Ellis got 10/
 
"Even though we lost the first set I thought we did a great job digging. Alex and Rossanna had nine digs apiece," Giacomazzi said. "I thought, 'Wow, this is fantastic. We're learning how to play defense.'"
 
But the coach said the Pioneers couldn't maintain the same level the rest of the match.
 
"It's a combination of things, including our block needed to improve so we can have an opportunity to have more digs," he said. "The block is going to come with more experience."
 
Wayland was out-blocked, 7-3. Meanwhle, Elisabeth Piroli dished up 26 assists, while Rakrouki got 13.
 
Giacomazzi had high praise for freshman Sadie Staton, who played out of position on the right-side due to injuries to Katie Inman, Jessica Stohlmann and Lindsey Schwab.
 
"It's a new position for Sadie, but she's doing a super job and has a fantastic attitude," Giacomazzi said.
 
"As our passing gets better, the setting gets better. We didn't have a whole lot of options tonight and we put the ball all over the court. I can understand why we had 184 attempts and only 51 kills."
 
Wayland plays its next five matches on the road, beginning with a trip to Fort Worth to take on Texas Wesleyan at 7 p.m. Friday. Texas Wesleyan won its first 12 matches of the season, including in four over Wayland during the Coca-Cola Classic, before dropping its SAC opener on Tuesday night at St. Gregory's (7-6), 19-25, 22-25, 25-21, 25-20, 15-12. The Lady Rams are ranked the equivalent of 36^th in the NAIA.
 
"They should be ranked higher than they are," Giacomazzi said of Texas Wesleyan. "We've played them once and seen them about five times, so we have a lot of stats on them. I hope we can educate ourselves enough to play well."
 
On Saturday, Wayland will be in Waxahachie to take on Southwestern Assemblies of God University (8-4), which won its league-opener on Monday over Mid-America Christian in four.
 
"SAGU is a solid team again. They have quite a few returners from last year," Giacomazzi said.
 
"You always hope you can at least get a split on the road, but we want to go down with the attitude we're going to win both. That's the goal."
 
Immediately after playing SAGU, Wayland faces Oklahoma Wesleyan in a non-conference match in Waxahachie.