Pioneers Earn Statement Win Over JBU in Three Sets

Plainview – The Wayland Baptist Volleyball team continued their strong stretch on Friday night with a massive 3-0 victory over Sooner Athletic Conference foe, John Brown, to move to 6-2 in SAC play.
 
Wayland Baptist (6-5, 6-2 SAC) opened the match by falling behind 6-2, but they would quickly adjust and cut the Golden Eagle lead to 6-5 after a JBU error and a service ace by junior Fade Ogunbade. It was a back-and-forth first set until John Brown opened up a 17-14 lead to gain some momentum. The Pioneers weren't fazed and answered with three straight points that included a kill by Carlee Heidebrecht, making it 17-17. Wayland Baptist took the first set 25-21 after senior Selma Sutaj concluded it with a kill.
 
Wayland Baptist jumped all over the Golden Eagles to begin the second set, thanks in large part to the outstanding service work by sophomore Klaudia Brzeczkowska. Brzeczkowska sparked an 8-0 start to the second set by scoring four service aces. The Pioneers would extend their second set advantage to 15-6 after back-to-back kills by Sutaj, making it seem like the second set was all but taken care of for the Pioneers.
 
However, John Brown would gradually chip away at the Pioneer lead and eventually cut their deficit to one after a Golden Eagle kill made it 19-18, WBU. Ogunbade and Sutaj scored two of the next three points for the Pioneers and quickly pushed their lead back up to four points, 22-18. Wayland Baptist would hang on to win the second set, 25-22, after kills by Sutaj and Alyssa Vasquez put the Pioneers in the driver's seat of this match.
 
The Pioneers opened the third set in similar fashion to the opening set, falling behind 6-2 only to come back and take the lead. Wayland Baptist fell behind 17-10 midway through the third set, but the Pioneers continued to chip away at the Golden Eagle lead until they eventually tied it at 19 a piece. The Pioneers would take their first lead of the third set after a Golden Eagle error and a Brzeczkowska kill put the Pioneers ahead, 21-19, forcing John Brown to call a timeout.
 
With the score at 22-21 in favor of Wayland Baptist, the Pioneers got a kill from Vasquez and back-to-back kills by Heidebrecht to win the set 25-22 and secure the victory over John Brown, 3-0.
 
This was the Pioneers first win over John Brown since 2021. "They've had our number the last few years. It's hard to beat a conference team, and hopefully we made a little bit of a statement today," said Head Coach Jim Giacomazzi when talking about how big of win this is for his team.
 
"We want to get more people touches. We told the girls last week that some players are going to be a little more limited on their touches than they're used to, because we're still trying to figure out what our starting lineup is right now, but I'm pleased with where we're at today," said Coach Giacomazzi.
 
Brzeczkowska did it all for the Pioneers tonight – finishing with five kills, four service aces, four solo blocks, and a .143 hitting percentage. Sutaj finished with 10 kills, 17 digs, a block assist, and a .132 hitting percentage. Ogunbade had seven kills, a solo block, and a .190 hitting percentage.
 
The Pioneers return to the court tomorrow, September 28^th, at 12:00 PM where they will square off against the Lady Bobcats of the College of the Ozarks for the first time as Sooner Athletic Conference foes.