It took Wayland Baptist just over 60 minutes to record a 25-15, 25-9, 25-8 victory over Oklahoma-Panhandle State on the Pioneers' Block for the Cure match Tuesday night at Hutcherson Center.
Junior
Kellie Kozak turned in close to career-high numbers as the Pioneers improved their season record to 13-15 and evened their sixth-place Sooner Athletic Conference mark to 8-8. OPSU fell to 9-15, 6-10, which sits eighth in the 11-team league.
The Pioneers fell behind in the first set, 6-2, but came roaring back. They tied it at 7, then after falling behind 11-10, Wayland scored 15 of the next 19 points to end the set.
The Aggies never saw another lead. Wayland scored the first seven points of the second set – including three aces by
Tevia Bell – then got off to another strong start in the third, going up 6-1. With Bell putting the ball in play, the Pioneers ended the evening on a 7-0 run.
Kozak ended with 13 kills, committing just one error on 19 swings for a .632 hitting percentage. Her only better percentage was a .700 earlier this season against USAO.
"We've been working hard on timing with Kellie, and she wound up having a career night," Wayland coach
Jim Giacomazzi said. "She kept her errors low and hit the right spot on the court. She gave our team some momentum and some enthusiasm."
Wayland hit. 300 as a team, it's third-highest of the season.
Making that possible was a solid serve-receive effort. Wayland made just one serve-receive mistake, compared to 11 for OPSU.
"Our serve-receive was really good. That helped the setters dish out the ball," Giacomazzi said. "We had a lot better set distribution tonight. The last 10-15 matches we've been setting Tatijana (Markic) too much. We've been wanting the middles to get set more, so I was happy to see the middles get the most sets."
Renzelle Horner finished with 22 assists, while
Lucie Mahelova had five.
Jordan Breding came up with 14 of Wayland's 38 digs, while Bell chipped in eight. Both also shined serving, with Breding getting five aces and Bell three.
"Jordan is doing a great job and still out-hustling everybody," Giacomazzi said.
On Block for the Cure night, the Pioneers enjoyed one of their best blocking performances of the season, ending with eight (2 solos, 12 assists). As a result, the team will make an $80 donation to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
"We've worked really hard on blocking for the last 2-3 weeks. I was very happy to see we had eight blocks," Giacomazzi said.
Kozak finished with two solos and four block-assists, while Markic had three helpers.
OPSU, which gave Wayland a little bit tougher test in Goodwell earlier this season, losing 25-15, 25-23, 25-19, hit -.116 for the evening.
The Pioneers hit the road for their next two matches, first playing in Waxahachie at 7 p.m. Friday against Southwestern Assemblies of God University then at 1 p.m. Saturday in Fort Worth against Texas Wesleyan. The second-place Rams (18-7, 13-3) got past the Lions (18-8, 11-5) on Tuesday in Waxahachie, 31-29, 21-25, 27-25, 30-28.
Wayland fell to Texas Wesleyan in five and SAGU in four when they met in Plainview late last month.
After this weekend, the Pioneers wind up the regular-season with home matches Nov. 8 against league-leading No. 22 Oklahoma City (26-1, 16-0), which has won 25 straight matches, and Nov. 9 against Southwestern Christian (11-12, 6-9), which is right behind Wayland in the SAC standings. The match against OCU will be Senior Night for Breding, Wayland's lone senior.
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