Point Lookout – The Pioneer Volleyball team took care of business on Friday night on the road at College of the Ozarks, winning the match 3-0 in dominant fashion.
Wayland Baptist (14-9, 13-6 SAC) fell behind 3-1 to begin the opening set, but they responded with a 6-0 scoring run that featured three kills by senior
Selma Sutaj, giving the Pioneers a 7-3 lead over the Bobcats. The Pioneers would extend their lead to 14-10 after a kill from senior
Alyssa Vasquez off the feed from setter
Valentina Bozzato.
The Bobcats trimmed their deficit to one point, 20-19, late in the opening set, but the Pioneers scored the next four points, including a kill from junior
Carlee Heidebrecht, to put the Pioneers up 24-19. Wayland Baptist went on the win the opening set, 25-21, after another kill from Heidebrecht sealed it.
The second set began with the Pioneers jumping out to a 6-2 lead over the Bobcats after a kill each by Sutaj and sophomore
Klaudia Brzeczkowska. Junior
Fade Ogunbade extended the Pioneer lead to 11-4 after scoring a kill off another set from Bozzato. Wayland Baptist took a 22-14 lead late in the set after a service ace from Bozzato and another kill from Sutaj. The Pioneers went on to win set two, 25-17, to take a commanding 2-0 lead over the Bobcats in this important Sooner Athletic Conference match.
The Pioneers fell behind 7-4 early in the third set after the Bobcats scored four kills in the early going. The Pioneers would chip away at their early deficit to eventually tie the set up at 10-10 thanks to the second service ace of the match for Bozzato. As the third set went on, Wayland Baptist was able to capture a lead after a service ace from Brzeczkowska, and a kill from Ogunbade made it 21-15, WBU. The Pioneers found themselves on the brink of a three-set sweep of the Bobcats after back-to-back kills from Heidebrecht and Ogunbade made it 24-19, WBU.
Vasquez was able to seal the set for the Pioneers with a kill to complete the three-set sweep of College of the Ozarks and officially clinch their spot in the 2024 Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament.
Coach Giacomazzi was elated with how his team played tonight and highlighted a few key performances, "I can't speak highly enough of the improvement Selma made from Wednesday to today. She dominated the net offensively tonight. Fade came back having been home with family and had a good day, and she's getting back into the swing of things."
Coach Giacomazzi continued, "We're treating every game like a playoff match the rest of the way on, and we're working hard to improve on the mental side of things. I thought we played with a great mentality tonight."
Sutaj had a team-high 14 kills, a .481 hitting percentage, and two block assists. Heidebrecht added eight kills with a .200 hitting percentage and 12 digs. Ogunbade finished with six kills, a .357 hitting percentage, and four block assists. Bozzato had 31 assists, two service aces, three block assists, and a kill.
The Pioneers will head to Siloam Springs, Arkansas for their final Sooner Athletic Conference road match of the 2024 regular season as they take on the Golden Eagles of John Brown University in a match that has huge implications regarding the conference standings. The match is set to begin at 1:00 PM on Saturday, November 2
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