If nothing else the Wayland Baptist volleyball team got Oklahoma City University's attention.
The 18
th-ranked Stars came to town on an impressive 27-match winning streak, but for a good bit of Friday night's Sooner Athletic Conference match inside Hutcherson Center, the Pioneers had the upper-hand.
In the end, though, the Stars were able to pull out a 25-23, 25-23, 25-17 victory, putting a damper on Wayland's Senior Night at which
Jordan Breding,
Sadie Hall and
Jai'Cee Tudman were honored.
"I'm disappointed we lost but very pleased with our quality of play against the 18
th-ranked team in the country. That was pleasing to see," Wayland coach
Jim Giacomazzi said.
Wayland (13-18, 8-11 SAC), which lost at OCU a month earlier 25-12, 25-19, 25-20, took rather substantial leads in the first two games, but ultimately couldn't hold on.
In the first, the Pioneers appeared to catch the Stars a bit off-guard and broke out to a 9-4 lead. But OCU recorded the next six straight points to take the lead, and it was game on.
Wayland, after a couple of OCU errors, was up 23-20 when things went south for the Pioneers.
A kill by the Stars' Marijana Bjelobrk then a setting error by WBU cut the lead to one. After a Wayland timeout, an ace knotted the score at 23. OCU wound up getting another point on that play when Giacomazzi disputed a reversed call and drew a red card, then the Stars closed it out with a second-straight ace, OCU's fifth of the set.
The second set was even more peculiar than the first, with OCU coach Kristen Coventon also hit with a red card early on that cost her team a point. The entire set was one of runs by each team, including an eight-point run by Wayland that gave the Pioneers a commanding 23-16 lead.
But again the Pioneers couldn't close the deal as the Stars improbably ran off the final nine points to win it. OCU's final push featured two aces, two kills and five WBU miscues.
The Stars ended the match with another impressive run. With the scored knotted at 16, OCU tallied six straight points before Wayland was able to break it up. But the Stars went right back to work and finished it with three unanswered, including a pair of kills by Lacy Beeler.
Beeler finished with a dozen kills to lead OCU, which hit .208.
Kellie Kozak paced Wayland, which hit .140, with 10 kills while hitting .304, while Hall got seven smashes. Breding wound up with 12 digs and four aces, and
Renzelle Horner delivered 23 assists.
While Wayland recorded just one solo block, Giacomazzi was impressed with that aspect of his team's performance.
"We've been talking about improving our block, and we did that against a quality team. Even though it didn't register as a lot of blocks, we touched a lot of balls and prolonged the rallies," the coach said.
Wayland ends the regular-season by hosting Southwestern Christian (14-13, 9-10) at noon Saturday. The Eagles, who defeated Oklahoma-Panhandle State on Friday in Goodwell, Okla., in four, defeated the Pioneers early last month in Bethany, 25-23, 23-25, 25-17, 25-19.
A win by WBU Saturday would tie the Pioneers and Eagles for sixth place in the standings. If the Pioneers prevail in three, Wayland would be the No. 6 seed and go to John Brown (24-7) in the first round of the SAC Tournament on Nov. 12. Should the Pioneers wind up as the No. 7 seed, they would travel to Fort Worth to face runner-up Texas Wesleyan (21-7) in the tourney opener.
"We want to use this performance and Saturday's match as a springboard for the playoffs," Giacomazzi said. "We accomplished part of our goal tonight by playing with energy and with intelligence."
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