McPherson – The Pioneers cruised to their third straight win on Saturday afternoon after defeating Central Christian 3-0 in McPherson, Kansas. The win puts the Pioneers in a tie for third place in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings with John Brown and Oklahoma City with nine regular season games remaining.
Wayland Baptist (10-7, 9-4 SAC) were in a back and forth battle to begin the opening set, but the Tigers were able to take a 16-13 set after a service ace. The Pioneers answered back with a kill for senior
Selma Sutaj and a service ace by libero
Emily Buchberger to make it 16-15, Central Christian.
The Pioneers were in trouble of losing the set when the Tigers led 24-22, but a kill by Sutaj and a Tiger error tied the set at 24 to force a win-by-two scenario. With the set tied at 25 and the Pioneers serving, Sutaj scored another kill followed by a Tiger error to secure the 27-25 opening set win for Wayland Baptist.
The Pioneers jumped out to an early 6-3 lead in the second set after junior
Fade Ogunbade scored an early kill. Central Christian battled back to tie the set at 10-10, but the Tigers then committed four straight errors to allow the Pioneers to take a 14-10 lead. The Pioneers extended their lead to 19-13 after a 5-0 scoring run that featured a kill from Ogunbade and a service ace from junior
Carlee Heidebrecht put the Pioneers on the doorstep of taking the set. The Pioneers went on to win the second set, 25-19, to take a 2-0 set lead over the Tigers.
Central Christian opened the third set by taking a 6-4 lead over Wayland Baptist, but a kill by Sutaj and three Tiger errors jolted the Pioneers in front 8-6. The Pioneers continued to pull away from the Tigers throughout the third set and eventually took a 21-15 lead after Sutaj scored another kill, later followed by a
Valentina Bozzato service ace to take command of the set and match. The Pioneers defeated the Tigers 25-17 in the third set to secure the 3-0 match victory over Central Christian.
The Pioneers dominated the Tigers around the net, finishing with ten total blocks compared to two for Central Christian. The Pioneers also had eight service aces compared to five for the Tigers.
"We did a good job on services today. We're starting to play better and accomplished a few goals today including playing more players this afternoon," said Head Coach
Jim Giacomazzi.
"The schedule is about to start getting more and more challenging each game we play, and they're becoming more and more important because they are against teams that are around us in the conference standings," said Coach Giacomazzi referencing the upcoming schedule for the Pioneers. "I think we're in a good place after this weekend and have a great opportunity to accomplish another team goal which is to host a conference tournament match."
Sutaj led the Pioneers with a team-high ten kills, a .409 hitting percentage, and two block assists. Ogunbade scored seven kills with a .417 hitting percentage, a service ace, and seven total blocks.
The Pioneers will look to extend their winning streak to four games on Tuesday, October 15
th as they host the Aggies of Oklahoma Panhandle State University at 7:00 PM at the Hutcherson Center.
