Less than 24 hours after defeating Oklahoma City in three sets to move into a tie for second place in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings, the Pioneers of Wayland Baptist came from behind to win a thrilling five-set match against Southern Nazarene to take over sole possession of second place. WBU, 18-4 overall, is one game ahead of Oklahoma City with a 6-3 conference mark.

The Pioneers dropped the first set to the Crimson Storm, 22-25, came back to take sets two and three, 25-18 and 25-23, fell in the fourth, 19-25, and won the final set 15-8.

"It was a great weekend.  We really needed these two wins," said Pioneer coach Jim Giacomazzi.  "Today wasn't the prettiest, but we got some timely hits and blocks and some great serves at the right time."

Wayland's big weekend was marred somewhat by an injury on Saturday to sophomore hitter Kimberli Harger.  The Cooper High graduate got a kill for the Pioneer's first point of the first set, but came down wrong on her left leg and suffered what is hoped to be a knee sprain.

"Kimberli's loss was huge.  She is our primary passer and one of our top two defensive players, and it took us some time to make the adjustment.  We're hoping that it is the type of injury where we can have her back in a couple of weeks."

Giacomazzi replaced Harger with senior hitter Analicia Estrada and junior defensive specialist Staci Wilt.  "Ana and Staci did a good job.  They had to step in a play positions that they weren't entirely familiar with, but they made the adjustments and got the job done."
 
After playing near-flawless volleyball on Friday, helped in large part by Oklahoma City, which played numerous balls that looked to be headed out-of-bounds, the Pioneers faced a much more disciplined team on Saturday. 

WBU was charged with just two ten attack errors and three service errors in the entire match against the Stars, but committed five hitting miscues and six service errors in the first set alone against the Crimson Storm. 

The Pioneers bounced back in the second set behind the play of Desiree Luevano, who had four kills and three blocks in the set, and Alissa Mitchell who served up four service aces.

The lead in the third set changed hands frequently until Wayland scored five straight to take a 22-19 lead. SNU came back to make it 23-22, but Sabrina Davis nailed down two kills to give the Pioneers the set.

WBU scored the first three points of the deciding set, but the Storm once again came charging back to tie it up.  The Pioneers broke it open after that with five straight points off the serve of Mitchell, highlighted by kills from Jennifer Wyatt and Estrada.

Appropriately enough, it was Luevano who eventually ended the match with a slam off an assist by Anika Voigt.  The junior hitter from El Paso finished up a monster weekend with 17 kills,three block solos, three block assists, and 15 digs against the Storm.

Estrada recorded 10 kills and three block assists.  Wyatt added nine kills and four blocks.  Defensively, two other Pioneers joined Luevano in double figures with Voigt leading the way with 24 digs.  Junior libero Haley Hill added 20.  Hemminger got six blocks assists for WBU, which had a team-total of 13 for the match.