Gallery: (8-30-2022) Volleyball vs ENMU
Jim Giacomazzi quickly turned his sights on the start of conference play after his Wayland Baptist volleyball team fell to Eastern New Mexico University in the Pioneers' home-opening match Tuesday at Hutcherson Center.
"Our preseason is now over. We still have a lot of work to do to get where we want, but we have time," Giacomazzi said after Wayland's 25-15, 25-8, 23-25, 25-15 loss to the NCAA Division II Greyhounds (3-2).
The Pioneers (0-5) will be looking for their first win when they take host Mid-America Christian (5-2) at 7 p.m. Friday, followed by a 3 p.m. contest Saturday against Science & Arts of Oklahoma (2-1).
Against ENMU, Wayland struggled in the first two games before picking up the pace in the third. The Pioneers jumped out to a 5-1 lead and held the upper hand until ENMU went up 17-16. WBU won the next three points but ENMU got all three right back.
Wayland scored two points on serve – the first a Greyhound error then an ace for
Brenna Daniel – put the Pioneers on top for good. WBU closed out the win with a kill by
Alexa Hinojos.
In the fourth, ENMU was back to its old ways, going up 5-1 and keeping the Pioneers at arm's length the entire way. The visitors from Portales closed out the match by winning the final five points.
Wayland ended with 26 kills, just over half of ENMU's 51, and hit .041 compared to .250 for the Greyhounds. Hinojos ended with a match-best dozen smashes and hit .229, but no other Pioneer had more than five kills. Hinojos also provided six of Wayland's 16 block-assists, twice as many as ENMU.
Three Pioneers –
Elizabeth Wirth,
Samantha Ingram and
Brenna Daniel – produced 10 digs each.
"With conference beginning, we need to make fewer mistakes," said Giacomazzi, whose squad committed 21 hitting errors, 10 service errors and eight receiving errors. "We're about where I thought we would be at the point in the season."
Looking ahead to Sooner Athletic Conference play, the coach said, "The players have seen the quality of competition that our conference's top teams have based on some of the teams we've played. Eastern New Mexico would be a top team in our conference. The girls see where they need to get if they want to play in the conference championship.
"There's enough talent out there for us to be successful, it's just a matter of how much heart they show and hard work they put in."
