BEREA, OHIO -- The Baldwin Wallace University volleyball team split a pair of matches on the first day of the 14th Annual Marcia French Memorial Invitational today in the Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center. The tournament is being co-hosted by Case Western Reserve University with matches being played at the Veale Center.
With the split, the Yellow Jackets are now 3-4 overall and Head Coach Vickie Brault won her 399th career match and will try to win her 400th tomorrow on the final day of the Marcia French Invitational. Brault has a 399-288 career mark, including a 329-240 mark in 18 seasons at BW. Her 329 wins at BW trails only the legendary Marcia French's '63 school-record of 447.
The second and final day of competition will take place tomorrow (Saturday, September 8) with the first matches slated to begin at 10:30 am. BW faces Westminster at 10:30 and John Carroll at 12:30 p.m.
Teams competing in the tournament include co-hosts BW and Case as well as Buffalo State (N.Y.) University, Franciscan University, Franklin & Marshall (Pa.) College, John Carroll University, Westminster (Pa.) College and The College of Wooster.
In its first match today, BW defeated Buffalo State, 3-1 in four sets by scores of 26-24, 25-15, 27-29 and 25-22. Leading the way on offensive was senior outside hitter Amanda Sawicki (Mentor/Lake Catholic) with 13 kills and senior All-Ohio Athletic Conference middle hitter Rachel Switalski (North Royalton/Holy Name) and junior right side hitter Shannon Deleur (Olmsted Falls) each added nine. Setting up the offense was senior Jessica Stitts (Eastlake/North) who had 42 set assists and Deleur contributed nine. On defense, senior libero Natalie Emmons (Ashland) led with 31 digs while Deleur and Stitts added 18 and 16 respectively.
In its second match, BW fell to Wooster, 1-3, in four sets by scores of 25-21, 23-25, 13-25 and 17-25. Leading the way on offensive was freshman outside hitter Savannah Moore (Burbank/Northwestern) with 11 kills and junior middle hitter Kayla Harris (Lima) with 10. Setting up the offense again was Stitts who had 22 set assists and junior Emily Nagle (Columbia Station/Columbia) had six. On defense, Emmons led the way with 28 digs while Stitts and Deleur contributed 16 and 13 apiece.
Following tomorrow's matches, the Yellow Jackets are back in action on Wednesday, Sept. 12 when they travel to Hiram, Ohio to play the Hiram College Terriers at 7:00 p.m. Next weekend, Friday and Saturday, Sept. 14-15, BW travels to Salisbury, Maryland to participate in the Salisbury University Seagull Classic.
FOR MORE BW SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@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 at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.
