LA VERNE, CALIFORNIA – The Baldwin Wallace University volleyball team lost a pair of matches today (Saturday, September 1, 2012) at the Pacific Coast Classic hosted by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges.  The Yellow Jackets finished the tourney with a 1-3 record after splitting a pair of matches yesterday on the first day.

In their first match, the Yellow Jackets fell to Chapman (Calif.) University in straight sets by scores of 25-13, 29-27 and 25-5.  In its second match, BW lost to host La Verne University in straight sets by scores of 25-22, 25-18 and 25-20.

Despite todays defeats, Head Coach Vicki Brault has 398 career victories and will look to inch closer when the Yellow Jackets next play on Wednesday, September 5 when they open their 2012 home schedule with a non-conference match with Oberlin College in the Ursprung Gymnasium at 7:00 p.m. Prior to arriving in Berea in 1995, Brault guided Claremont Mudd-Scripps to a 70-50 record, two Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles and two appearances in the national tournament. While at BW, she has compiled a 329-234 mark the past 18 years, including two NCAA Division III national tourney appearances.

In its loss to Chapman, junior Academic All-Ohio Athletic Conference middle hitter Colleen Bonacci (Stow/ Stow-Munroe Falls) led the team with 10 kills. Freshman outside hitter Savannah Moore (Burbank/ Northwestern) chipped in eight and senior two-time All-OAC/ Academic All-OAC standout middle hitter Rachel Switalski (North Royalton/ Holy Name) had seven. Bonacci led the team with three blocks and Switalski was second as she recorded two blocks.

Senior setter Jessica Stitts (Eastlake/ North) set up the attack and had a team-leading 25 set assists to go with one kill and three digs. Junior setter Emily Nagle (Columbia Station/ Columbia) also had four set assists. Defensively, senior libero Natalie Emmons (Ashland) led the Yellow Jackets in digs with 13. Juniors Shannon Deleur (Olmsted Falls) and Taylor Burns (Tiffin/ Fostoria St. Wendelin) were tied for second as they each recorded eight.

Against La Verne, Moore led the team with eight kills. Bonacci and Burns tallied each five kills, repsectively. Stitts set up the Yellow Jacket offensive attack as she had a team-leading 20 set assists to go along with six kills and one dig. Deleur and Nagle also had three set assists each, repsectively. Defensively, Emmons and sophomore defensive specialist Paige Pileski (Elyria) led the Yellow Jackets in digs with 11 each. In addition, Burns recorded seven digs also.  

Following Wednesday's match versus Oberlin, BW will remain at home  next weekend when it will co-host the 14th Annual Marcia French Memorial Tournament with Case Western Reserve University on Friday and Saturday, September 7-8 in the Ursprung Gymnasium and Veale Center.

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.bw.edu/athletics and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.