By: Athletic Communications Intern Andrew Zimmerman '22

CINCINNATI, Ohio— The Baldwin Wallace University men's volleyball team faced Mount St. Joseph University for a road conference matchup inside Harrington Center. The Yellow Jackets took the match in 5 sets, with scores of 25-21, 25-23, 22-25, 17-25, and 15-12. 

BW (7-10, 2-2 MCVL) was led by sophomore outside hitter Nick Irelan (Powell/Olentangy Liberty) as he notched 16 kills and seven digs on MSJ (6-8, 1-3 MCVL). Sophomore All-MCVL outside hitter Michael Beard (Hilliard/Darby) added 14 kills, 6 digs, and 3 aces. Sophomore setter Brandon Long (Hinckley/Metea Valley, Ill.) also dished out 46 assists in the match while freshman libero Andrew Soriano (Aurora, Ill./Benet Academy) tallied 15 digs.

1st Set

• Both teams traded scores throughout the set, with no team holding a lead bigger than 2 scores
• With the score tied at 15, BW went on a 3-0 scoring run to force a MSJ timeout
• MSJ made a late push, but the Yellow Jackets managed to hold on to their late lead and take the first set.

2nd Set

• Irelan started off the set with a kill assisted by Long
• Both teams traded off scoring runs to make the score tied at 9
• MSJ went on another scoring run to bring the score to 14-11, forcing a BW timeout
• BW added a few more scores, but MSJ kept up the pace and forced another BW timeout with the score 20-16.
• BW then fought back to tie the game at 21, forcing an MSJ timeout.
• MSJ took the first few scores after their timeout, but BW went on a 4-0 scoring run to take the second set

3rd Set

• Once again, both teams traded scores throughout the set, with no one gaining a significant lead
• MSJ made a late push to take the third set

4th Set

• The opposing teams traded the initial runs
• MSJ went on a 5-0 scoring run, forcing a Yellow Jacket timeout down 13-10
• MSJ was red hot after the timeout and led 16-10 before BW called another timeout
• BW found a hot streak late, but it was too late as MSJ's lead was to overcome, taking both teams to the final set

5th Set

• It was back and forth action throughout the set by both teams
• BW finished with a 4-1 scoring run, topped off by the game-clinching kill by Beard

While MSJ beat BW in nearly every statistical category, the Yellow Jackets led the Lions in service aces (14-7), despite committing the same amount of service errors as the Lions (16).

The Yellow Jackets return to action on Saturday, March 11 as they remain on the road, traveling to Thousand Oaks, California to participate in a two-day, four-game spring break trip at Cal Lutheran University. BW will face UC Santa Cruz at 3 p.m. in the Soiland Arena.