by Article via Mary VonKronenberger of Baldwin Wallace Press Relations team.
MARIETTA, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace women’s volleyball team faced Marietta College and Ohio Wesleyan University in a tri match at Marietta to close out the regular season in Fenton Court inside the Ban Johnson Arena. The Yellow Jackets grabbed the 3-1 win over the Pioneers before outlasting the Battling Bishops of OWU in five sets to earn the huge five-set victory.
Match 1
Not only did BW (19-10, 4-5 OAC) outperform Marietta (5-18, 2-7 OAC) for the big OAC victory (25-14, 25-11, 22-25, 25-23), but it was a milestone match for the Yellow Jackets. With her second kill in the contest, senior First Team All-OAC performer and Academic All-OAC outside hitter Ivy Earl (Howell, Mich.) moved into the eighth spot on BW’s all-time kill list. When Earl tallied her seventh dig of the match in set one, it marked her 1,000th career dig. Earl is just the fifth player in BW history to reach that peak of over 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs. Earl finished with a match-high and tied her career-high with 23 kills and earned a double-double, adding 17 digs.
Freshman setter Lauren Reid (Canonsburg, Pa./Upper Saint Clair) dished out 55 assists in the contest to surpass the 1,000-assist mark. She has totaled 1,055 assists this year (first in the OAC) and averages 9.95 assists per set (second in the OAC). Reid also posted 12 digs, two service aces, and two total blocks.
Junior Academic All-OAC middle hitter Isa Luciano (Willoughby/South) finished with 12 kills (.412) and three blocks while senior Academic All-OAC defensive specialist Morgan Martin (Seven Hills/Trinity) led BW in digs, totaling 19.
Freshman right side hitter Allison Weiner (Columbus/St. Francis DeSales) and senior All-OAC performer and Academic All-OAC outside hitter Cecelia Hamisch (Union/Northmont) each contributed 11 kills. Freshman libero Lauren Gardner (Avon/Saint Joseph Academy) earned 16 digs and senior defensive specialist Angela Dunn (Fairview Park/Fairview) added 15.
Match 2
With two evenly matched teams, BW and OWU (11-13, 5-3 NCAC) battled set for set finding themselves in the tie-breaking fifth set. The Yellow Jackets earned the early 5-2 lead in set five, forcing the non-conference opponent to take their first timeout. Not letting up, BW never let the Battling Bishops come close that two points heading into the second half of the set. With the Yellow Jackets up 13-9, they tallied two of the next three points to earn the huge set and match win (26-24, 19-25, 16-25, 25-16, 15-10)!
BW was led by Hamisch who posted a match-high 21 kills on the outside and those two final points for the Yellow Jackets. Earl totaled another double-double with 16 kills and 17 digs. Earl also added four total blocks and two service aces. Weiner finished with 13 kills and two blocks.
Gardner earned a team-high 31 digs and added three assists. Reid added another 50 assists and earned herself a double-double by tallying 11 digs. Luciano played a huge part in the BW defense, posting five block solos and two block assists, tying her career-high seven total blocks. Luciano also added six kills for BW.
The Yellow Jackets conclude the season with a 19-10 overall record and a 4-5 OAC record.
