Parkville – The Pioneer Volleyball team wrapped up the 2024 Park Invitational with a pair of tough contests against the Cornerstone Eagles and the
RV Saint Ambrose Fighting Bees. Wayland Baptist suffered a tough loss to the Eagles, 17-25, 23-25, 14-25, in three sets. In a nail-biter against the Fighting Bees, the Pioneers fell short in the fifth set, 25-20, 25-13, 25-23, 25-20, 16-14.
The Pioneers weren't able to take a set from Cornerstone during the Saturday morning matchup, but they received strong performances from junior
Fade Ogunbade and junior
Carlee Heidebrecht. Ogunbade finished with 28 attacks and 8 kills, while Heidebrecht added 14 attacks and 2 kills.
Head Coach
Jim Giacomazzi highlighted Ogunbade and Heidebrecht saying, "We attacked out of the middle a lot more, which was good to see from Carlee and Fade. Fade had some tremendous kills this weekend and it was neat to see. It's been cool to see her develop and really start to elevate her game."
In game two against the Fighting Bees of Saint Ambrose University, the Pioneers showed tremendous determination and fight after dropping the first two sets. With their backs against the wall and no room for error, the Pioneers showed grit by taking sets three and four to force a decisive fifth set. Unfortunately, the Pioneers comeback fell short 16-14 in the final set.
Against Saint Ambrose, Ogunbade finished with 33 attacks, 13 kills, four service aces, and a team-high five blocks. Heidebrecht totaled 36 attacks and 6 kills.
Klaudia Brzeczkowska finished with 10 kills and 22 attacks.
Selma Sutaj had 9 kills, 24 attacks, and 13 digs.
"We played a lot better yesterday," said Coach Giacomazzi. "We're still a young team and trying to figure out our personalities on the court, but we were able to get some everyone on the court to get some playing time to see if any can seize an opportunity."
Coach Giacomazzi mentioned the upcoming preparation for the Pioneers and the opportunities up for grabs, saying "We're going to have some tough practices this week and look forward to continuing to improve our chemistry on the floor. I never like to lose, but we need to use this weekend's experience to grow and mature heading into the heart of our season."
"This also gives the players who weren't on the travel roster this weekend the opportunity to compete for playing time," said Coach Giacomazzi.
The Pioneers will head home and are looking to host games next Weekend, August 30
th and 31
st. With the dates currently open, the opponents are TBA.
