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Box Score 2 DENVER – Wayland Baptist swept York (Neb.) after falling to Rocky Mountain (Mont.) in the Pioneer volleyball team's season-opening matches Friday at the Wildcat Invitational hosted by Johnson & Wales University.
The Pioneers (1-1) dropped their opener to Rocky Mountain, 25-11, 25-16, 25-9, before bouncing back with a 25-16, 25-15, 25-18 win over York.
"With it being our first matches, we saw a lot of nervousness and hesitation, but as the match went on it got a little better. I saw some good movement by several players," Wayland coach
Jim Giacomazzi said. "We got a lot of swings and got to make a lot of decisions. Unfortunately, a lot of them were the wrong decisions."
Against Rocky Mountain, Wayland's hitters struggled as the Pioneers hit -.011. Freshman
Amber Daniel led the way with seven kills followed by sophomore
Mallorie Ellis with six.
"We had too many unforced errors. A lot of times we had the advantage and beat the blockers but we hit the ball out of bounds," Giacomazzi said.
Sophomore libero
Jordan Breding recorded 13 digs.
"Jordan did a good job with her digging," Giacomazzi said, adding, "Our serving was sketchy (seven errors) because we didn't do a good job putting the ball in the right spots and didn't make adjustments to the short court.
Freshman
Kellie Kozak tallied three block-assists, and
Elisabeth Piroli ended with 18 assists.
"Overall it was a better team against a team that needs improvement," Giacomazzi said.
Wayland got that improvement – at least some of it – against York.
The Pioneers hit .245 with senior
Megan Sharratt getting 11 kills and hitting .647, Ellis nine, Daniel seven and Kozak six.
"I was pleased with the attack we had out of the middle with Megan and Kellie. I expect that to be more of the norm for the year, and as they do that it will free things up for Mallorie and Amber. Right now their hitting percentages are too low for outside hitters. I was pleased with their attacking out of the back row, but we have to drop the errors," Giacomazzi said.
Breding finished with 11 digs and Ellis 10, and Wayland had 10 block-assists, including three by Sharratt. The Pioneers served eight aces, four by Daniel and three by Sharratt.
"Defensively we started doing things I wanted to see," Giacomazzi said. "We had 31 digs (against Rocky Mountain) and 41 (against York). That's still under what I want. A lot of balls didn't get picked up or were shanked off of our arms.
"Our serve-receive was pretty solid and blocking looked a little bit better. When Jade (Jones) and Kellie or Jade and Megan jumped together, we have a nice, solid wall. When they're not together it looks like Swiss cheese.
"We're going to be a better defensive team before we're a better offensive team."
Wayland is back on the court Saturday to take on host Johnson & Wales (Colo.) at 12:30 p.m. (CST) then against University of Providence (Mont.) at 3.
