Dumas – The Pioneers came away with a 3-1 victory over Oklahoma Panhandle State University on Wednesday night in Dumas, Texas to maintain fourth in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings with just four regular season games remaining.
Wayland Baptist (13-9, 12-6 SAC) opened tonight's match by falling behind 8-5 in the first set, but the Pioneers quickly rallied for four straight points, including kills from sophomore
Klaudia Brzeczkowska and junior
Carlee Heidebrecht, to take a 9-8 lead over the Aggies. Freshman
Emma Scott put the Pioneers up 14-11 after scoring her second kill in the opening set.
The Pioneers continued to hold the slim lead throughout the first set and took a 22-19 lead after back-to-back kills from senior
Alyssa Vasquez. Wayland Baptist won the opening set, 25-22, after another kill from Brzeczkowksa, her third of the set.
Brzeczkowska and Vasquez would carry the Pioneer momentum into the second set as each would score kills while guiding the Pioneers to an early 4-0 lead. OPSU battled back, but the Pioneers got two more kills from Scott to hold a 12-9 lead nearly midway through the set.
Heidebrecht and Brzeczkowska would strike again for the Pioneers with a kill each to push the WBU lead to 18-14, putting the Pioneers on the doorstep of taking complete control of this match. However, OPSU showed great fight to tie the set up at 22-22 to force the Pioneers to use a timeout.
With the set tied at 23, Heidebrecht and Brzeczkowska would seal the set win for the Pioneers with back-to-back kills, giving Wayland Baptist the 2-0 set lead over the Aggies.
The Aggies came out in the third set with a ton of energy, and that energy jolted them to a quick 8-2 lead over the Pioneers to begin the third set. OPSU pushed their lead to 14-7, but the Pioneers began to fight back after scoring kills from Brzeczkowska and Vasquez, and a service ace from graduate student,
Emily Buchberger, made it 14-12, OPSU.
The Pioneers continued chipping away at their third set deficit, and they eventually took a 15-14 lead after kills from Vasquez and Heidebrecht. OPSU wasn't fazed and rattled off a 5-1 scoring run to re-take the third set lead over the Pioneers, 19-16. OPSU went on to win the third set over the Pioneers, 25-20, to force a fourth set.
After falling behind 7-4 to begin the fourth set, the Pioneers answered by scoring the next five points to take a 9-8 lead, capped off by the sixth kill of the match from Scott. The Aggies fended off the Pioneer attack and took a 16-12 lead, forcing Wayland Baptist to call a time out to regroup defensively.
Out of the timeout, the Pioneers executed a 6-2 scoring run to trim their deficit to just one point, 18-17. With the Aggies holding a 20-18 advantage late in set three,
Emma Scott continued her strong performance by scoring back-to-back kills for the Pioneers to even the set up at 20-20. Wayland Baptist scored the next five points to win set four, 25-20, earning the 3-1 victory over Oklahoma Panhandle State.
Brzeczkowska finished the match with 14 kills, a .344 hitting percentage, and two block assists. Heidebrecht added 14 kills herself with a .303 hitting percentage, 11 digs, and a block assist. Scott scored 10 kills with a .308 hitting percentage and two total blocks. Vasquez totaled 10 kills, a .194 hitting percentage, eight digs, and a block assist. Sophomore,
Valentina Bozzato, finished with 41 assists, eight digs, and two kills at the setter position.
Next up, the Pioneers will travel to Point Lookout, Missouri for a Friday night tilt against the Bobcats of the College of the Ozarks. The match is set for Friday, November 1
st at 7:00 PM.
