CHICKASHA, Okla. – And then it was 10.
The Wayland Baptist volleyball team captured its 10
th consecutive victory here Friday night, sweeping Science & Arts of Oklahoma in a Sooner Athletic Conference contest, 25-21, 25-21, 25-16.
"We played OK," said WBU coach
Jim Giacomazzi, who despite the win against the last-place Drovers wasn't thrilled with his team's performance. He said some of it might have resulted from making the same-day drive from Plainview to Chickasha. "We had that weird feeling from driving a lot and then stepping onto the court and starting to play. That might have had something to do with our sloppiness."
Wayland (10-3, 4-0 SAC) led 18-9 in the first set before the Drovers (1-11, 0-3 SAC) rallied to tie it at 19. But the Pioneers scored the next five points, including kills by
Alexa Hinojos and
Paxton Patterson and back-to-back aces by
Jayla Schultz. USAO fought off a pair of game-points before another kill by Hinojos ended it.
In the second, WBU fell behind 8-2. It was 10-5 when the Pioneers scored seven straight points – including two aces by
Tatijana Markic, to take the lead. Just like in the first game, the score was tied at 19, but Wayland won six of the last seven points, half of those kills by Patterson, and repeated the first-game 25-21 victory.
Giacomazzi said his team "finally settled down in the third set" when the Pioneers jumped out to a 9-2 lead. The Drovers pulled to within 12-9, but that's as close as Wayland let them get and went onto the 25-16 victory, sealing the match with a kill by Patterson.
"The girls showed a lot of fortitude to finish it to the end," Giacomazzi said.
Wayland got a big game from Patterson, who logged a dozen kills and hit .478. "Paxton did a good job hitting tonight," Giacomazzi said.
Kellie Kozak added nine kills and hit .571 while Hinojos got six and hit .417, along with three block-assists. As a team, the Pioneers recorded a .224 hitting percentage.
Ariel Marquez led Wayland with 15 digs, followed by
Shykerra Fanner's nine. Wayland ended up with eight aces with Markic,
Lucie Mahelova and Schultz getting two each. Mahelova produced 20 assists, and
Cauane Krainski 11.
Next up for Wayland is an 11 a.m. match Saturday at Mid-America Christian (11-9, 1-1).
"They're a solid team, one of the top five teams in the conference, I think," Giacomazzi said. "Hanna Foecker (6-foot-2 senior from Germany) is a solid player. She usually gets about 20 kills every match, so we have to take care of business. We have to play better defense and hit our serving zones."
Wayland's 10-match win streak is the program's longest since 2014 when the Pioneers won 14 in a row.
