WAXAHACHIE –
Jim Giacomazzi has been saying all season his Wayland Baptist volleyball team can play with the best teams in the Sooner Athletic Conference, and on Friday night that's just what they did.
The Pioneers battled league-leading and 25
th-ranked Southwestern Assemblies of God tooth-and-nail for five sets before finally running out of gas. The Lions won it, 25-19, 18-25, 25-20, 22-25, 15-4.
After fighting their way to the fifth set, Wayland (8-12, 7-6 SAC) never got untracked as SAGU (22-1, 13-0) recorded the first 11 points of the final game. WBU coach Giacomazzi took timeouts with his team trailing 2-0 and again at 4-0, but the stoppages couldn't slow down SAGU, which scored early on kills then mostly on a variety of Wayland errors.
The effort came after the Lions swept the Pioneers in Plainview on Sept. 8, 25-19, 33-31, 25-22.
It was SAGU's 21
st win in a row.
Amber Daniel, the reigning SAC Attacker of the Week, ended with 15 kills and
Mallorie Ellis 14 for Wayland. The Pioneers hit .126 as a team compared to SAGU's .227. Kali Shaw put down 27 kills to lead the Lions.
Jordan Breding ended with 21 digs while Daniel and Sadie Hall posted 10 apiece. Wayland recorded four solo blocks and 10 block-assists, with
Kellie Kozak putting back two and one, respectively.
Jessica Nguyen delivered 37 assists, and Breding served four of WBU's 10 aces.
Wayland will have another shot at a top SAC team when it takes on Texas Wesleyan at 11 a.m. Saturday in Fort Worth. The Lady Rams (15-8, 11-2), who rolled the Pioneers in the first half of league play 25-18, 25-18, 25-7, defeated Oklahoma Panhandle State on Friday, 25-15, 25-13, 25-9.
