Box Score SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. – Wayland Baptist fought from beginning to end and almost came up with a key Sooner Athletic Conference road win here Friday. Instead, the Pioneers suffered their third loss in four matches to John Brown University, 25-14, 16-25, 25-21, 17-25, 15-11.
"For us to travel this far and get that close but walk away without a victory, it's really frustrating," Wayland coach
Jim Giacomazzi said. "We did a lot of good things. I'm semi-pleased with how we played, but ultimately our own mistakes ended up costing us."
In the deciding fifth set, Wayland went ahead 6-2 before the Golden Eagles rallied to tie it at 6-all. It went back-and-forth with the Pioneers leading 9-8 when John Brown ran off six straight points on the strength of three kills, two blocks and a WBU hitting error.
The Pioneers fought off two match points before a JBU kill ended it.
"It was a knockdown, drag-out in that last set," Giacomazzi said. "It was a fun match. We were there, ready to take the victory. Unfortunately, we shot ourselves in the foot and mistakes on our side of the net got us beat. John Brown did a good job when they had to, but we had too much nervousness and made too many poor choices."
Giacomazzi was especially frustrated with the outcome in the third set when Wayland led 18-12. But JBU came storming back and went on a game-ending 13-3 run.
"I feel like we should have won, but we didn't stay focused long enough and at times didn't get out of rotation soon enough. It's one of those things we have to work on," Giacomazzi said.
It was Wayland's first loss in its third fifth-set match this season, having previously beaten University of the Southwest (N.M.) and Benedictine at Mesa (Ariz.).
"It was feast or famine, for both teams," said Giacomazzi. "They had 200 or so fans packed in behind the referee."
The Pioneers hit .174 as a team, compared to JBU's .189.
Megan Sharratt paced Wayland with 17 kills while hitting .163, while
Mallorie Ellis got 14 kills (.186) and 14 digs.
"Mallorie did a good job, especially for being banged up like she is. We held her out of practice all week," Giacomazzi said.
Amber Daniel added a dozen kills and 11 digs,
Jordan Breding recorded 28 digs,
Kellie Kozak three blocks, and
Elisabeth Piroli 13 digs and 50 assists.
JBU, which out-blocked Wayland 10-4, got 16 kills apiece from Carly McKinney and Bayli Reagan.
"We did a good job stopping the people we wanted to stop," Giacomazzi said.
Wayland fell to 12-8 overall and 4-4 in the SAC, tied for sixth place in the 12-team conference. JBU (17-5, 6-2) stands in fourth place, a game behind co-leaders Texas Wesleyan, Oklahoma City and Southwestern Assemblies of God University.
The Pioneers now head to Muskogee, Okla., to take on last-place Bacone (6-11, 0-7) at 11 a.m. Saturday. The Warriors hosted Oklahoma Panhandle State on Friday night.
