BEREA, OHIO -- With a roster that does not include a single senior, the 2009 edition of the Baldwin-Wallace College volleyball team will be one of the youngest squads in the Ohio Athletic Conference. However, eight returning letterwinners, four returning starters and a solid recruiting class have veteran Head Coach Vicki Brault believing the Yellow Jackets will be taking a step in the right direction.
"We know we are very young, but we also know we have the potential and work ethic that are going to help us build towards our future goal of returning to the top of the conference," said Brault.
Brault enters her 15th year at B-W and is one of the most successful coaches in the OAC and all of Division III. She begins the campaign with a career record of 354-232, including a 284-182 mark at B-W and an 82-42 slate in OAC play. Brault has led the Yellow Jackets to three OAC regular season titles, one OAC Tournament championship and two NCAA Division III National Tournament appearances.
B-W finished at 13-21 in 2008. This season, the Yellow Jackets will have to fill a large void in the middle due to the graduation of All-OAC and four-year starter Maria DePeters.
"We don't have a ton of experience accross the board, but we do have eight players who all saw significant time last season," noted Brault. "We'll be looking for them to step up into leadership roles."
The Yellow Jackets will be led by setter Casey Passen (Ashville/Teays Valley), who enters her junior year in sixth place all-time in B-W history with 2,192 set assists, including 830 a year ago (7.22 set assists/game). She also tallied 177 digs in 2008.
Passen is joined by a wealth of hitters, including returning starters in sophomore outside hitter Nicole Schoen (Bellevue), sophomore rightside player Leslie Purnell (Springfield/Catholic Central) and sophomore outside/middle hitter Chelsea Nissen (Williston/Genoa).
Schoen is B-W's top returning hitter as she recorded 311 kills during her freshman season. She also had 180 digs and 31 total blocks in 2008. Purnell had 101 kills and 30 blocks while Nissen is the Yellow Jackets' top returner in terms of digs with 279. Nissen also added 195 kills and 42 blocks.
In addition, the Yellow Jackets return junior middle hitter Abbey Thompson (Lorain/Clearview), junior outside hitter/defensive specialist Rebecca Pittenger (Alliance/ Senior), junior rightside player/outside hitter Ashley Hilborn (Fredericktown/Sparta Highland) and sophomore libero Danielle Gerwin (Bowling Green).
Thompson had 74 kills and 24 blocks in 2008 and Hilborn hit for 26 kills and recorded 20 digs. Gerwincontributed 187 digs and Pittenger had 46 kills and 137 digs last season.
B-W opens the season with two September 1 home matches at Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in Berea. The Yellow Jackets will take on Thiel (Pa.) College at 5:00 p.m. and Hiram College at 7:00 p.m. B-W's OAC opener is on October 3 at Mount Union College in Alliance at 1:00 p.m. In addition to the usual rugged OAC slate, B-W will play a challenging non-league schedule with tournament stops at the Kalamazoo (Mich.) College Hornet Invitational on September 5-6, the College of Wooster Invitational on Sept. 11-12, the Salisbury (Md.) University Seagull Classic on Sept. 18-19 and the College of Mount St. Joseph Invitational on Sept. 28-29.
"We play an extremely competitive schedule," said Brault. "We feel that by playing a top-flight nonleague schedule we will prepare our young women for the always-tough OAC schedule and OAC Tournament."
FOR MORE SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail atkruple@bw.edu or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu. Fans can access the latest BW athletics information at www.BWyellowjackets.com and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter athttp://twitter.com/bwathletics
