KALAMAZOO, MICHIGAN –  Junior setter Jessica Stitts (Eastlake/North) was named to the all-tournament team as the Baldwin-Wallace College volleyball team had a perfect 4-0 record and placed second at the annual Kalamazoo College Hornet Classic in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The Yellow Jackets and The College of Wooster each had perfect marks, but Wooster was declared the tournament champion as the Fighting Scots had a better game record (12-1) compared to B-W's (12-2).

In today's first match versus Anderson (Ind.) College, B-W won 3-0 and by the scores of 25-10, 25-23 and 25-14. The Yellow Jackets finished the final day of the tournament by beating North Park (Ill.) University, 3-0 and by the scores of 28-26, 25-19, 25-17. Yesterday, B-W defeated host Kalamazoo, 3-2, and shut out Franklin (Ind.) University, 3-0.  A year ago, B-W won the tourney title with a 3-1 slate and earned the championship due to its better game record compared to the host school.

Highlighting the tournament for the Yellow Jackets was Stitts, who played in 14 games, had 16 kills, a .361 hitting percentage, 114 set assists (8.1 per game), six service aces, 37 defensive digs and three block assists.

"Jessica had an outstanding tournament and really took control out there on the court," said veteran Yellow Jacket Head Coach Vicki Brault, who improved to 383-269 in 20-plus seasons oveall and 313-219 at B-W in 17-plus campaigns. "Jessica was one of a number of student-athletes who played well this weekend.:

"Overall, we played well as a team both on offense and defense, but this is just one weekend and one tournament," continued Brault. "We should be proud of our effort, but now need to focus on playing a Division II team in Notre Dame College on Wednesday and then participating at the Marcia French Memorial Tournament next weekend at home."

When B-W hosts the Marcia French tourney next weekend, it might get interesting. The final opponent in the two-day and four-match event for the Yellow Jackets is none other than Wooster.

In their victory against Anderson, the Yellow Jacket front line was led by junior All-Ohio Athletic Conference middle hitter Rachel Switalski (North Royalton/Holy Name) with seven kills in 20 attempts for a .350 hitting percentage.  She also had three defensive digs and one assist.  In addition, junior transfer outside hitter Amanda Sawicki (Mentor/ Lake Catholic) had eight kills and sophomore MH Colleen Bonacci (Stow/ Stow-Munroe Falls) had six. 

The offense was set up by Stitts as she had 29 set assists, 13 digs and seven kills. Also, sophomore Shannon Deleur (Olmsted Falls) had three set assists and led the team with 14 digs.  The defense was led by junior libero Natalie Emmons (Ashland) with 11 digs, three set assists and seven kills.

In the win versus North Park, B-W hit .387 in the three-game match. Switalski, Bonacci and Sawicki led the way with 13, 7 and six kills, respectively. Switalski had her best game of match of the tourney as she had 13 kills in 19 attacks for a .631 hitting percentage. Stitts again set up her players for 34 set assists and had nine digs and two kills. Emmons had the most digs with 24 and Deleur had 12. Bonacci and senior OH Chelsea Nissen (Williston/ Genoa) each had three blocks.

For the tournament, B-W hit .305 as a team with Sawicki leading the way with 43 kills. She was followed by Switalski with 31, Bonacci with 29, Nissen with 20 and Stitts 16. Sophomore defensive secialist/ OH Taylor Burns (Tiffin/Fostoria St. Wendelin) had the most service aces with nine, Emmons had the most digs with 81 (5.8 per game) and Bonacci had the most blocks with seven.

"This was a good start for us," said Brault. "But we can't get complacent at all.  It is a long season and our goal has to be getting better every day in practice and in every match we play.  We know that the rugged OAC schedule is ahead of us and we know to compete that we have to just get better every day.  Right now, we are looking forward to the challenge of playing Division II Notre Dame next Wednesday."

Following its two matches tomorrow, the Yellow Jackets will and be back in action on Wednesday, Sept. 7 when they travel to South Euclid, Ohio to play Notre Dame College in the Keller Center at 7:00 p.m.  Next Friday, Sept. 9-10, B-W will host the Annual Marcia French Memorial Tournament in Berea.  The Yellow Jackets are in action at 4:00 p.m. versus Carnegie Mellon (PA.) University and at 8:00 p.m. versus Denison University.  On Saturday, B-W plays at 10:00 a.m. against Buffalo State (NY.) College and at 1:00 p.m. versus The College of Wooster.

FOR MORE B-W SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact SID Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu and Assistant SID Jeff Miller by telephone at 440-826-2780 and e-mail 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.