Box Score SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. – Hoping to secure its second three-match winning streak of the season, Wayland Baptist had no answer for John Brown University here Friday night as the Pioneers fell in three, 25-19, 25-20, 25-10.
The loss dropped Wayland, which was without setter
Renzelle Horner due to illness, to 12-15 on the season and 7-8 in Sooner Athletic Conference play. The Golden Eagles upped their marks to 20-7, 11-4, good for fourth place in the league standings. Wayland is sixth.
The Pioneers stared Friday's match strong, taking a 10-5 lead. But John Brown took over after that, both the set and the match.
The Golden Eagles quickly tied it at 11 then, after each team scored a point apiece, John Brown ripped off 11 unanswered to take control. The Pioneers fought off four match points before JBU took it.
Set 2 saw the Pioneers dig themselves out of an early hole to take a 17-15 lead. But the Golden Eagles again went on a big run, closing on a 10-3 sprint.
In the third, Wayland fell behind 3-0 and never really got back in it, managing just 10 points for the Pioneers' lowest total since their season-opening tournament in Iowa.
WBU coach
Jim Giacomazzi, whose team lost to JBU, 25-15, 25-18, 26-24 a month ago in Plainview, said the Pioneers "can't catch a break" with Horner's illness on top of all of the injuries the team has endured this season, including another for
Tatijana Markic, who was out most of the week with an elbow.
"It's frustrating," Giacomazzi said.
Despite her tender elbow, Markic ended with a team-best seven kills, while
Kellie Kozak had five. Wayland hit .032, compared to .207 for JBU, which was led by Taylor Glover's 13 terminations.
Wayland's
Jordan Breding finished with 20 kills while
Lucie Mahelova, again pressed into the role of setter, had 18 digs in addition to her 16 assists. Freshman
Brenna Daniel finished with 10 digs. Kozak wound up with five blocks (one solo and four assists) and Mahelova four assists.
Giacomazzi bragged on Breding, the team's lone senior known for her gutsy defensive dives.
"I had lot of people comment on Jordan's play," the coach said. "She had a couple of very impressive digs toward the end of the second set."
The Pioneers next host Oklahoma-Panhandle State (9-13, 6-8), which takes on John Brown on Saturday, at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Wayland swept the Aggies in Goodwell, 15, 23 and 19, when they met Sept. 17.
Wayland ends next week with road matches against SAGU and Texas Wesleyan then comes home to end the regular-season against No. 22 Oklahoma City and Southwestern Christian on Nov. 8 and 9.
