CLAREMONT, CALIFORNIA – The Baldwin Wallace University volleyball team opened the 2012 season by splitting a pair of matches tonight (Friday, August 31, 2012) at the Pacific Coast Classic hosted by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges.  

In their first match, the Yellow Jackets defeated Polytechnic Institute of New York University in straight sets by scores of 25-12, 25-10 and 25-21.  In its second match, BW fell to host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in straight sets by scores of 25-21, 25-20 and 25-15.

The Yellow Jackets now are 1-1 overall and will play against Chapman (Calif.) University at 2:00 p.m. EST and LaVerne (Calif.) University at 6:30 p.m. EST tomorrow on the second and final day of the classic.

With its victory against NYU-Poly, Yellow Jacket Head Coach Vicki Brault won her 398th career match on the same court that she began her coaching career 18 years ago. 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 328-233 mark the past 18 years, including two NCAA Division III national tourney appearances.

Leading the way to victory up front against the NYU-Poly Fighting Blue Jays was junior Academic All-Ohio Athletic Conference middle hitter Colleen Bonacci (Stow/ Stow-Munroe Falls) with 14 kills and five digs. In addition, senior two-time All-OAC/ Academic All-OAC standout middle hitter Rachel Switalski (North Royalton/ Parma Heights Holy Name) had nine kills and a team-leading two service aces and freshman outside hitter Savannah Moore (Burbank/ Northwestern) and junior outside hitter/ defensive specialist Taylor Burns (Tiffin/ Fostoria St. Wendelin) each had five kills. Moore also had a team-high two blocks, including one solo block, and Burns had two set assists and was second with seven defensive digs.

Senior setter Jessica Stitts (Eastlake/ North) set iup the attack and had a team-leading 30 set assists to go with four kills. She was aided by junior rightside player/ defensive specialist Shannon Deleur (Olmsted Falls) who had four kills, four set assists and four digs. Defensively, senior libero Natalie Emmons (Ashland) had a team-high 20 digs and sophomore defensive specialist Paige Pileski (Elyria) had five digs.

Despite its loss to Claremont Mudd-Scripps, junir middle hitter Kayla Harris (Lima/ Senior) led the team with nine kills. Switalski chipped in seven and both Moore and Burns each had four. Switalski led the team with three blocks. Stitts again topped the squad with 22 set assists and contributed six digs, Burns also had two set assists and three digs. Defensively, Emmons had the most digs with 11 and Deleur was second with 10. 

Following it matches tomorrow, 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.  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