SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. – Wayland Baptist's plans to throw a kink in the Sooner Athletic Conference Volleyball Tournament were foiled here Tuesday night when third-seeded John Brown defeated the sixth-seeded Pioneers in the opening round, 25-17, 25-16, 25-14.
"They were the better team," Wayland coach
Jim Giacomazzi said of JBU. "They put us in some positions that were difficult to defend."
The loss ends Wayland's season at 14-19 while the Golden Eagles (26-7) advance to Oklahoma City University where they will play second-seeded Texas Wesleyan, a 25-10, 25-13, 25-16 winner over Southwestern Christian, in the semifinals on Friday. Likely awaiting the winner in Saturday's championship will be 18
th-ranked OCU, which eliminated Oklahoma-Panhandle State on Tuesday, 25-16, 25-16, 25-22.
The Pioneers were hoping to take a page out of the book of the WBU women's soccer team, which defeated favored John Brown in the SAC Tournament quarterfinals last week.
But Giacomazzi's team didn't have such luck as they were swept by the Golden Eagles for the third time this season.
Wayland simply didn't have the firepower to stay with John Brown, which logged 45 kills and hit .324 compared to 21 kills and .058 for the Pioneers.
"We started out like gang-busters. We had five blocks in that first set," Giacomazzi said. "But then we stopped blocking and things went downhill."
Wayland was led by
Kellie Kozak with eight kills, followed by
Tatijana Markic with five. JBU got a dozen smashes and a .440 percentage from Kinzee Mayo. "We couldn't stop her," Giacomazzi said.
The Pioneers were outdug, 59-42, with
Renzelle Horner,
Tevia Bell and
Brenna Daniel pacing Wayland with nine each. Kozak, Horner and
Charm Henderson got three blocks each, while Horner finished with 16 assists.
"It's always sad to have your last match of the season, but I'm proud of the girls for the improvement they made in the last two weeks," Giacomazzi said. "We had a chance to make it to the championship, but tonight John Brown was a good team. They just have too many guns."
The coach said the team will miss seniors
Jordan Breding,
Sadie Hall and
Jai'Cee Tudman.
"We're going to miss Sadie's heart, the acrobatic, the defensive moves by Jordan, and the wisdom Jai'Cee brought to the team behind the scenes.
"Those are all things that will be hard to replace."
