After more than a month of avoiding back-to-back losses, the Wayland Baptist volleyball team finally gave way this weekend, following Friday night's five-set defeat to Texas Wesleyan with a four-set setback to Southwestern Assemblies of God on Saturday afternoon in Hutcherson Center.
It took some extraordinarily unfortunate circumstances for it to happen as Wayland took the floor Saturday without two key players in
Tatijana Markic and
Lucie Mahelova, both out with injury.
Friday's match with Texas Wesleyan pitted teams tied for fourth place in the Sooner Athletic Conference, then on Saturday the Pioneers and Lady Lions, ranked the equivalent of 34th in the NAIA, were playing for sole possession of fifth place in the league.
"They were trying to give us the match, and we gave it back," said WBU coach
Jim Giacomazzi, who blamed fatigue for his team's downfall.
SAGU came out on top thanks in part to the play of a foursome of hitters. Sophomore Alexis Mealer led the Lady Lions with 15 kills (.268) followed by senior Madeleine Hartline (.579) and freshman Ava Myers with 13 each, and freshman Emma Topkins (.346) with a dozen. SAGU hit .237 as a team, just better than WBU's .229.
Amber Daniel turned in a match-high 20 kills while hitting .214 while fellow junior
Kellie Kozak logged a season-best 16 kills (two off her career-high) and hit .366. Daniel ended with 11 digs plus a solo block and block assist, while Kozak had one solo and four block assists.
Jordan Breding's 21 digs paced Wayland, followed by
Ariel Marquez with 16.
Renzelle Horner provided 48 assists.
The Pioneers managed one ace, four fewer than the Lady Lions.
Wayland plays its next four matches on the road and won't be back in the Hutch until Oct. 18. The Pioneers first play at Southwestern Christian (7-8, 2-5) at 7 p.m. Friday then at 24
th-ranked Oklahoma City (14-1, 8-0) at 1 p.m. Saturday. The league-leading Stars likely will go into the match riding a 14-match winning streak.
Giacomazzi hopes a break Monday will help his players get their feet back under them.
"We'll take Monday off and hopefully get rejuvenated. They'll get a much-needed rest, both mentally and physically. We've been going hard the last three weeks. We were able to see the fruits of our labor Friday when we had a great match against Texas Wesleyan.
"We just need to get a little bit of rest and look at ourselves on film and make some adjustments.
"I'm looking forward to our next matches to see the improvements we make this week."
Â
