CHICKASHA, Okla. – When the Wayland Baptist volleyball team suffered four straight losses to open the season, they bounced back by winning five of its next six matches.
The Pioneers started down the road to repeat that trend when, on the heels of four losses in a row and opening the second half of Sooner Athletic Conference play, they rolled to a 25-13, 25-8, 25-14 Sooner Athletic Conference victory Wednesday evening over the University Science and Arts of Oklahoma.
"It was a nice rebound match," said Wayland coach
Jim Giacomazzi, whose team improved to 10-13 overall and 5-6 in the SAC. "We did what we were supposed to do."
Taking on a Drover team (1-14, 1-10) that is next-to-last in the conference standings, and which Wayland defeated 25-7, 25-11, 25-6 in Plainview earlier this season, the Pioneers hit .333 as a team, their second-highest percentage of the season behind only the .455 performance from the first match against USAO, which hit -.043 Wednesday.
"Everybody hit really well," Giacomazzi said.
Charm Henderson led the Pioneers' hitters at .556 (six kills), followed by
Lucie Mahelova at .478 (season-high 13 kills),
Kellie Kozak at .375 (10 kills), and
Sadie Hall at .300 (5 kills). Wayland was without two of its top hitters in
Amber Daniel and
Tatijana Markic, and the Pioneers prevailed with their nine healthy players.
Mahelova also produced a team-high 14 digs, followed by reigning SAC Defender of the Week
Jordan Breding with 13.
The Pioneers enjoyed a strong blocking night with 10 assists and one solo. Henderson produced four assists and the solo, while
Renzelle Horner, who recorded 34 assists, got three assists. Hall had two block-assists.
WBU ended with seven aces, with Mahelova providing a season-best five.
Giacomazzi said the Pioneers "kept our errors (10 hitting, 6 service, 0 blocking, 0 ball-handling) to a minimum. I was a little disappointed with the service errors, but other than that we did pretty well.
"We drove 4½ hours to get here and took care of business in an hour and 15 minutes. I'd say they earned the day off (Thursday)," Giacomazzi said.
The Pioneers wrap up a four-match road swing Monday in Oklahoma City against Mid-America Christian (8-7, 6-4), which defeated Wayland Sept. 6 to open conference play, 25-21, 25-19, 25-17. MACU, which has been swept by John Brown, SAGU and Texas Wesleyan in its last three outings (all on the road), hosts Oklahoma-Panhandle State on Friday.
