Plainview – WBU Athletics announces that Women's Beach Volleyball will be an added sport beginning in the 2024-25 season. Women's Beach Volleyball will be the 17
th sport at Wayland Baptist, and it will make nine women's sports at WBU.
The inaugural Women's Beach Volleyball Season for Wayland Baptist will be next competition season, the Spring of 2025. The Pioneers will compete against teams from the Sooner Athletic Conference, the Red River Athletic Conference, and the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference.
WBU Head Volleyball Coach and AD Jim Giacomazzi will serve as the head coach of the Women's Volleyball team. Coach Giacomazzi has been at Wayland Baptist for 17 seasons serving as the Head Volleyball Coach, and he has been the Director of Athletics for the past two years.
Coach Giacomazzi has a 329-238 overall record in 17 seasons as the WBU Head Volleyball Coach. Coach Giacomazzi reached the NAIA Final Four in 2013, where he was named NAIA Tournament Coach of the Year, 3 Sooner Athletic Conference Championships, and 4 NAIA National Tournament appearances. He has coached 7 NAIA All-Americans including 3-time NAIA First Team All-American Shahala Hawkins. Coach Giacomazzi was also the 2014 Sooner Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.
Coach Giacomazzi is thrilled to introduce Beach Volleyball at Wayland Baptist and expects to be competitive in the programs first season. He said, "We are excited to be adding Women's Beach Volleyball here at Wayland Baptist. We look forward to competing in the Spring season, and we expect to compete right away."
Wayland Baptist alum Lucie Mahelova will serve as the Assistant Coach for the Women's Beach Volleyball team. Mahelova competed as a member of the WBU Volleyball team from 2019-2021. She has been a Graduate Assistant Coach for the Volleyball team over the past two seasons.
In 2021, Mahelova had a dominant season for the Pioneers as she was named All-Sooner Athletic First Team, SAC Setter of the Year, NAIA Honorable Mention All-American, and AVCA Regional Setter of the Year. She also earned All-Sooner Athletic Second Team recognition in 2020 and is a two-time NAIA Scholar Athlete Award recipient.
Mahelova offensively tallied 338 total points, 72 service aces, 200 kills, and 1,317 set assists. Defensively, Mahelova totaled 756 career digs, 120 blocks, and only 9 reception errors. During the 2021 season where Mahelova was named NAIA Honorable Mention All-American, she accumulated 1,317 set assists, 29 service aces, 107.5 total points, 365 digs, and 63 blocks.
In Beach Volleyball, there are two competitors on each team, and the first team to reach 21 points will be declared the winner of the set. The match is won when a team wins two sets in a best-of-three series. It is a "win by two" scenario, meaning in order for a team to secure the set, they must have a two-point lead when they get to 21. If the score is 20-20, the match will continue until one team holds a two-point lead.
2023-2025 USA Volleyball Beach Rules
This marks the second occurrence where Wayland Baptist has announced the addition of a new sport in the past two years – WBU added Softball officially in 2023 and their first official competing year was 2024.
Women's Beach Volleyball Team Page.
