Jim Giacomazzi saw things he's seldom if ever seen before – on both sides of the floor – when his current Wayland Baptist volleyball team took on a team of his formers players Wednesday night in Hutcherson Center.
"This was the best match
Cindy Horn has ever had in her life, and TK (
T-Keeyah Hall) had 23 digs? I don't think she did that in five matches combined when she was playing for real. She had a wonderful night," Giacomazzi said of two players on the alumni team.
In the end, though, it was the current Pioneers who won the night, rebounding from a first-game setback to prevail in the exhibition contest, 22-25, 25-17, 26-24, 25-18.
"Our girls didn't take this lightly, and I was pleased to see us stay focused," said Giacomazzi, who went up against his wife, Trish, as coach of the alumni squad.
"We played a team tonight that is better than anybody we will play this year, with more all-Americans and all-conference players,"
Jim Giacomazzi said.
The win unofficially ended a four-match on-court losing skid for Wayland, which actually picked up a victory Saturday due to a forfeit by Bacone College.
With a team of 13 former Pioneers who played as far back as 2010 (
Ashley Welch), the alumni squad gave the current Wayland team all it wanted and more.
"I was very impressed. It's been several years since several of them touched the ball and they were still able to bring it," Giacomazzi said. "We were not always able to take advantage of their slowness, let's say. They came up with some nice passes, some nice digs, and they read us like a book. And they had some good kills."
Former all-American
Shahala Hawkins, who helped WBU to the national semifinals in 2013, ended with 17 kills to lead the alumni, although it was one fewer than current Pioneer
Amber Daniels' 18.
"It was one of the few times Shahala didn't lead a match in kills," said Giacomazzi, adding that the crowd "got right back into it" by yelling 'ka-boom' when Hawkins delivered at the net. "That brought back good memories of the successes those people had."
Horn added 15 kills – many of them rocket blasts – and hit a match-best .306.
Natasha Giacomazzi provided 22 assists and 14 digs while
Elisabeth Piroli, one of three alumni who played as recently as last season, tacked on 16 assists.
As for the current Pioneers, Daniel ended with 15 digs and four block-assists to go with her 18 kills, and
Mallorie Ellis also had a double-double with 14 kills and 19 digs plus three block-assists and three aces.
Kellie Kozak tacked on 11 kills and three block-assists. Besides her 46 assists,
Jessica Nguyen came up with six kills and hit a team-high .500, and
Jordan Breding wound up with 31 digs and three aces. Sadie Hall also reached double-digit digs with 10.
"Mallorie had a nice hitting percentage (.278), Kellie kept plugging along and Amber was solid all-around," Giacomazzi said. "Jessica had a pretty good night, too, and Tatijana (Markic) is getting more comfortable out there (five kills, three aces.)
"The more we play the better we're going to get," Giacomazzi said. "This is probably one of the tougher matches we have this week."
The Pioneers (4-8, 3-3 SAC) next face three road matches, on Friday night against Langston (2-12, 0-6) then Saturday afternoon against Central Christian (0-8, 0-6) and Saturday evening against No. 24 McPherson College, Kan. (15-1).
"Langston hasn't done very well to this point, so I'm hoping we're able to execute some of the things we're practicing and get some success. Then play Central Christian, who on film looks really good. I don't know how they're not winning.
"We have to come in firing on all cylinders. We're at the point in the season where every conference point, every conference win matters. We want to host (a SAC Tournament first-round game) again this year. We have to take it to everybody we play.
"This week will be a good tune-up to spring us into next week. Not to look too far ahead, but Oklahoma City is on the horizon."
The rival Stars (10-2, 6-1) visit Plainview for Wayland's next home match Sept. 28.
