The Wayland Baptist Pioneer volleyball team dropped an important Sooner Athletic Conference match 3-1 (23-25, 24-26, 25-18, 16-25) to Oklahoma Baptist Friday evening at Hutcherson Center. The loss drops the Pioneers into a tie for third place in the conference standings with OBU at 7-5, a game behind 9-4 Oklahoma City.

The SAC Tournament begins next week at Lubbock Christian University. The top five teams in the standings will advance to the tourney which gets underway on Friday.

The first set of the match against OBU was extremely close, although not well played, with neither team able to pull ahead by more than two points. The second set began the same way, until the Pioneers, trailing 13-11, scored five straight to take a 17-13 lead. Anika Voigt, Haley Hill and Jennifer Wyatt each had a kill during the sequence, but after a timeout by OBU, the Lady Bison came roaring back, finally tying the set up at 22.

The visitors had the serve for set point, in front 24-22, but a kill by Audrey Hemminger and an attack error by OBU, knotted it back up at 24. A kill by Chassie Hamilton, one of a match-high 19, and a block ended the set in favor of the Lady Bison.

WBU, which honored seniors Laura Cortazar, Analicia Estrada and Hemminger before the match, trailed again early in the third set, but went on a 5-1 run to turn a 12-10 deficit into a 15-13 advantage. The lead went back-and-forth from that point until the Pioneers went on another run, this one 7-1, to win the set. Hemminger, Wyatt and Hill all recorded key kills during the stretch.

Wyatt led the Wayland netters with 15 kills and three blocks. Desiree Luevano posted a double-double with 11 kills and 16 digs. Three other Pioneers hit the double figure mark in digs led by Staci Wilt with 22. Alissa Mitchell had a career-high 21, and Voigt dug up 13 balls to go along with her 41 assists.

The Pioneers join together with the Flying Queens in a rare volleyball/basketball doubleheader on Saturday afternoon. The volleyball game against St. Gregory's is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. The Queens will then take on Dallas Christian College at 4 p.m. The price of admission for both games is two cans of food which will be donated to Faith In Sharing House.