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Box Score 2 McPHERSON, Kan. – What a difference 2.2 miles make.
Five hours after sweeping winless Central Christian College in a Sooner Athletic Conference match, 25-14, 25-13, 25-20, the Wayland Baptist volleyball team traveled across town and was swept by 24th-ranked McPherson College in an out-of-conference contest, 25-11, 25-8, 25-15.
The outcomes leave the Pioneers with a 6-9 overall record and 5-3 mark on conference play as a six-match road swing comes to an end. Wayland returns home for its next outing against rival Oklahoma City (11-2, 6-1) at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28, followed by a 1 p.m. match Saturday against Southwestern Christian (8-4, 4-4) to finish the first round of conference.
Against Central Christian (0-10, 0-8), Mallorie Ellis and Amber Daniel posted double-doubles, with Ellis getting 11 kills and 13 dig and Daniel 10 kills and 18 digs. After serving a school-record eight aces against Langston in a Wayland sweep Friday night in Oklahoma, Daniel punched six against the Tigers.
Kellie Kozak finished with 13 kills and hit .357 while blocking five balls for one of the sophomore's best matches of the season. Jordan Breding was credited with 10 digs, and Jessica Nguyen dished out 30 assists.
"We took care of business on our side of the net," Wayland coach Jim Giacomazzi said.
It was a different story against McPherson (16-1).
"McPherson is better than anybody in our conference," Giacomazzi said. "After the match their coach said it was the best they've played all year."
McPherson hit .336 compared to WBU's .043.
After being blown out in the first two sets while making some "ridiculous mistakes," Giacomazzi said the Pioneers played much better in the third.
"The girls relaxed a little bit and played with a lot more fire," he said. "They played a lot better after they realized I wasn't going to bail them out (by calling timeout). It dawned on them that's it's up to them."
Daniel had eight kills and 20 digs and Ellis seven kills and a dozen digs. Tatijana Markic added four kills and hit a team-best .200.
"We had 28 points in errors tonight, with most of those in the first and second sets," Giacomazzi said. "Half of the points they scored were our mistakes, and when you play against a good team that's exactly what's revealed."
The coach hopes the Pioneers will get another chance to show McPherson a better match in the playoffs.
"Hopefully we get to play them again. We have to continue to work to get in shape and get tougher mentally. We still can be very successful in the conference, we just need to get tough mentally."
Giacomazzi hopes the McPherson match marks a significant point in the season for the Pioneers.
"This might be the turning point for us. We'll wait and see."
