BEREA, OHIO –  Junior outside hitter Amanda Sawicki (Mentor/Lake Catholic) led Baldwin-Wallace with a match-high 20 kills as the Yellow Jackets rallied from two sets down to defeat fifth-seeded Ohio Northern University, 3-2 tonight (Tuesday November 1, 2011) in an Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinal match in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center.  

B-W won the match by scores 28-30, 16-25, 32-30, 26-24 and 15-9. With the win, the Yellow Jackets improved to 18-12 overall and advances to play No.1-seed Heidelberg University, who defeated No. 8-seed Muskingum University, 3-0 tonight, on Friday night November 4 in Tiffin at 5:00 or 7:00 p.m. With the loss, Ohio Northern ends its season with a record of 14-16.

In tonight's other quarterfinal matches, No. 2-seed Otterbein University defeated No. 7-seed Marietta College in straight sets and No. 3-seed the University of Mount Union defeated No. 6-seed Capital University also in straight sets. Mount Union and Otterbein advance to the semifinals and will face each other on Friday night November 4 in one of two semifinal matches at Heidelberg.  The match will be played at either 5:00 or 7:00 p.m. as the top-seeded Student Princes will determine what time their match will be played.

In addition to Sawicki, junior All-OAC middle hitter Rachel Switalski (North Royalton/Holy Name) recorded 17 kills and freshman middle hitter Nicole Christner (Minerva) added eight. The offense was set up by junior setter Jessica Stitts (Eastlake/North) with 45 set assists.

Defensively, B-W was led by junior defensive specialist Natalie Emmons (Ashland) with career and match-high 46 digs. Sophomore right side hitter and defensive specialist Taylor Burns (Tiffin/Fostoria St. Wendelin) and senior defensive specialist Amanda Mass (North Royalton) both contributed career-best 31 and 22 digs respectively

The Polar Bears were led by freshman middle hitter Rachel Olach (Avon) with 14 kills. Sophomore middle hitter Julia Fuerst (Kalida) contributed 12 kills. The offense was set up by freshman setter Amanda Volosin (Boardman) with 45 set assists. ONU was led defensively by sophomore defensive specialist Jeni Kmic (Delta) with 45 digs.

The winner of the OAC Semifinal matches will advance to the OAC Championship and the winner of that match will receive the OAC's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III National Tournament.

FOR MORE B-W 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 B-W 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.