FORT WORTH – It took five sets to do it, but third-seeded Texas Wesleyan fended off another valiant effort by Wayland Baptist and senior
Mallorie Ellis in the Sooner Athletic Conference quarterfinals here Tuesday night, effectively ending the Pioneers' season, 25-18, 23-25, 23-25, 25-16, 15-9.
"It was rough playing tonight. Both teams were giving so much energy," Wayland coach
Jim Giacomazzi said.
Coming off a five-set road loss to top-seeded Oklahoma City University on Saturday, the sixth-seeded Pioneers (11-18) gave the Rams (23-9) all they wanted and more.
"I wish they were best two-out-of-three" instead of best-of-5, Giacomazzi said.
After dropping the first set and trailing in the second 7-4, Wayland came to life. The Pioneers won six of the next eight points to take the lead, eventually going up 21-14. The Rams fought hard to come back, but a kill by
Kellie Kozak secured the two-point win.
Shortly after falling behind 8-3 in the third, Wayland ran off eight straight points on
Jordan Breding's serve. It started with an ace and featured a pair of kills by senior
Alex Wood, along with a handful of Wesleyan errors. The Rams were able to tie it at 20, but another ace by Breding capped a 3-0 run, then a Wesleyan service error and a kill by Ellis put Wayland up 2-1.
In the fourth, WBU fell behind early but rallied to within 17-16. That's when the Rams rattled off eight straight points – four kills and four Wayland errors – to finish the set and force a fifth.
"We played poorly in the fourth set," Giacomazzi said.
The home team scored the first three of the fifth, the last two thanks to aces. But Wesleyan began to implode and four consecutive attack errors allowed Wayland to take a 6-4 lead. That's when Wayland ran out of gas as the Rams tallied nine unanswered points (five kills, an ace and three WBU attack errors) to go up 13-7. Wayland, which called its first timeout after falling behind 3-0, called its final timeout midway through the run, but it was to no avail.
"We only had one kill in that last set in 18 attempts with three hitting errors," Giacomazzi pointed out.
Wayland fell to 0-4 in five-set matches this season; Texas Wesleyan improved to 4-1.
"What hurt us was we had seven ball-handling errors," Giacomazzi said.
Ellis, in her first extensive action in almost a month due to injury, ended her collegiate career with a personal-best 20 kills – one better than her previous best as a sophomore – and 15 digs. She hit .240; Wayland hit .074 as a team.
"Mallorie had a phenomenal night," Giacomazzi said. "I can't say enough about her courage and desire to be successful. I had to take her out every once in a while just to let her rest. She was stretching (her back) during timeouts. She was giving it her all."
Kozak ended with a dozen kills (.176), and
Amber Daniel nine.
"Kellie had a heck of a first two sets. At the end of two she had nine kills and was hitting .533. Unfortunately in the third she only had one kill and four errors," Giacomazzi said.
Breding, whom Giacomazzi called "a trooper," and
Jessica Nguyen dug 19 balls each, Sadie Hall matched Ellis' 15 digs, and Daniel got 14 for her 14
th double-double of the season. Wayland ended with 90 digs.
"It was one of our better defensive nights," Giacomazzi said.
Nguyen produced 43 assists while Kozak got three solo blocks and an assist.
"We had nine blocks – I believe all in the first three sets – against one of the best blocking teams in the country," Giacomazzi said. "I wish Alex would have had a better night, but she did have a couple of big blocks for us when we really needed them.
"Jessica's 19 digs were great, especially for someone who most of the year hasn't been known for her defense. She never set before this season, so for her to do what she did this year to give us a chance, I can't say enough about her."
Wesleyan was led by Sasha Robinson, who got 22 kills, hit .541, 20 assists and 18 digs.
"We just weren't able to stop her," Giacomazzi said. "She's a tremendous athlete."
The Rams advance to play second-seeded Southwestern Assemblies of God, which swept Mid-America Christian, 25-22, 27-25, 25-18. In other first-round results, fifth-seeded Southwestern Christian knocked off fourth-seeded John Brown, 25-19, 25-23, 25-23, while top-seeded Oklahoma City ousted Oklahoma-Panhandle State, 25-15, 25-15, 25-18.
Semifinals will be held at OCU Friday with the finals Saturday.
Despite dropping their last four outings, Giacomazzi said he is proud of how his team finished the season.
"I'm happy with the way the team has worked the last two weeks. We've had a lot of different combinations out there.
"For us to go five with a couple of teams that thumped us pretty good earlier, I'm really pleased with how they wound up the season. We finished strong."
