BEREA, Ohio – The No. 18 nationally ranked Baldwin Wallace University men's volleyball team, led by fourth-year head coach Kyle Mars, is ready to tip off the 2024 season.
Coach Mars returns 12 letterwinners, three All-Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League players, and nine Academic All-MCVL honorees from last season as the Yellow Jackets posted a 26-8 overall record and a 7-1 mark in the MCVL on the way to their first MCVL Championship in program history and the program's first appearance in the NCAA DIII Men's Volleyball Tournament. The Yellow Jackets were picked to finish first in the MCVL Preseason Coaches Poll.
BW brings back its top two offensive leaders from last year in senior All-MCVL outside hitter Michael Beard (Hilliard/Darby) and junior All-MCVL right-side hitter Michael Devlin (Zelienople, Pa./Seneca Valley). Beard led the team, the conference, and was fifth in all of NCAA Division III with 407 kills and was second in the MCVL with 3.73 kills after appearing in all 33 matches and in 109 sets. He was also fourth on the team in assists with 31, second in digs with 189, fourth in blocks with 39, and recorded a team-leading and MCVL-leading 58 service aces. Devlin was third in the MCVL with 333 kills in 2023 recording 3.36 kills per set in 30 matches and 99 sets. He was also third on the team with 44 blocks, fourth on the team with 139 digs, and fourth on the team with 21 service aces.
The Yellow Jackets also return last season's MCVL assists leader in senior All-MCVL setter Brandon Long (Hinckley/Metea Valley, Ill.). Long, the 2023 MCVL Tournament MVP, was third in all of NCAA Division III with 1051 assists and was second in the nation in assists per set with 10.3 through 29 matches and 102 sets. He also added 30 kills, 162 digs, 22 service aces, and 33 total blocks last season.
Sophomore libero Aiden Kim (Bothell, Wash./North Creek) and senior defensive specialist Payton Reed (Hilliard/Darby) will lead Coach Mars' squad defensively in 2024. Kim tallied 251 digs, which was first on the team and third in the MCVL, and 2.51 digs per set while Reed prepares for his senior season after recording 79 digs and 1.55 digs per set last year.
BW's 2023 blocks leaders, sophomore middle hitter Colby Whiteside (Powell/Olentangy Liberty) and sophomore middle hitter Josh Steinitz (Towson, Md./Friends School of Baltimore), return after leading the Yellow Jackets with 68 and 55 blocks, respectively. Steinitz also finished third on the team in kills with 180 while Whiteside was fourth with 125.
Outside hitter Nick Irelan (London/Olentangy Liberty) and right-side hitter Nick Mazzone (Springboro/Bishop Fenwick) round out the squad's veterans as they also get set for their senior seasons. Irelan finished 2023 with 74 kills, 55 digs, and 17 service aces while Mazzone recorded 97 kills, 36 digs, and 23 blocks.
The Yellow Jackets open the season on Friday and Saturday, January 20 and 21 when the team hosts the 2024 BW Invitational. BW will open the invitational with a non-conference game against Eastern Mennonite (Va.) University on Friday in Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center at 7 p.m.. On Saturday, the team will take on Elmira (N.Y.) College at 12 p.m. and Buffalo State (N.Y.) University at 4 p.m.
