DENVER – The Wayland Baptist volleyball team will have another long trip home this weekend from an out-of-state tournament, but this time they'll be in a much better mood.
In their final action before the start of conference play next weekend, the Pioneers won three of their four matches at the Mile High Classic, following up five-set wins Friday over Presentation College, S.D., and Friends University, Kan., with a sweep of tournament host Johnson & Wales on Saturday evening, 25-15, 25-15, 25-16. In their first outing Saturday, the Pioneers suffered their lone loss of the weekend to Dickinson St., N.D., 21-25, 25-12 25-19, 25-22.
"We did what we were supposed to do," WBU coach Jim Giacomazzi said. "Maybe we could have won all four, but we're still having some injury and other issues, so we're glad we had enough healthy bodies to put on the floor and didn't have to forfeit."
The outing came on the heels of a winless season-opening tournament in Orange City, Iowa, and leaves Wayland with a 4-5 record going into its 7 p.m. Friday match at home against Mid-America Christian (2-2) to kick off Sooner Athletic Conference play. The Pioneers then host USAO (0-1) at 11 a.m. Saturday, followed immediately by a non-conference match against Our Lady of the Lake.
"Hopefully next week we'll be able to put it together," Giacomazzi said.
The Pioneers put it together at times in Denver, with Tatijana Markic and Amber Daniel recording multiple double-doubles. Against NCAA Division III Johnson & Wales, Markic ended with 17 kills, 10 digs and three aces while hitting .282, while Daniel had 14 kills and 11 digs and hit .273. Lucie Mahelova also had a double-double with 33 assists and 17 digs. Ariel Marquez, who shared libero duties with Tevia Bell, dug 11 balls, and Wayland hit .243 as a team.
Giacomazzi said Mahelova, a transfer from the Czech Republic, is dealing with kidney stones and is in "excruciating pain. "She showed a lot by playing through that," said the coach, who recently had surgery to remove his own kidney stones. Mahelova was needed since the team's other setter, Renzelle Horner, is experiencing issues in her back.
Against Dickinson St., Wayland was able to win the first set before the wheels came off in set two, losing 25-12. WBU recovered a bit in sets three and four, but not enough to pull it out.
"It wasn't anything they did, we just made too many mistakes on our side of the net," said Giacomazzi, whose team hit .145. "That's going to be typical this season. If we can keep from making errors, we'll be OK."
Kellie Kozak enjoyed one of the best hitting percentage matches of her career, logging 10 kills against just one error and hitting .450. Kozak also had two solo and four block assists.
Markic put down a team-high 17 kills while Daniel recorded 12 kills and 23 digs. Marquez had a dozen digs, and Mahelova 31 assists.
Giacomazzi said the Pioneers still have lots of work to do.
"We have to fix issues with our blocking as well as our hitting errors and serve receive," he said. "We have to tighten things up a bit."
