ADA, Ohio – The sixth-seeded Baldwin Wallace University volleyball team fell to the third-seeded Ohio Northern University Polar Bears, 3-1, in an Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinal match in the ONU Sports Center.
BW (11-18) ended its season with a hard-fought four set loss to Ohio Northern (19-8) by scores of 19-25, 25-22, 17-25 and 15-25.
The Polar Bears will now play second-seed Heidelberg University in the first match of the OAC Tournament semifinals doubleheader at top-seed University of Mount Union on Friday, November 8 at 5 p.m. The Purple Raiders and fourth-seed Otterbein University face off in a rematch of the 2012 OAC Tournament Championship at 7 p.m.
The first set would be tied eight times with the last coming at 17-17 before Ohio Northern went on an 8-2 run to close to take a 1-0 lead.
The Polar Bears would jump out to a 6-1 lead in set two but BW would battle back and tie the match up for the first time at 14-14. The two teams would tie the set up eight more times with the last coming at 22-22 before the Yellow Jackets scored the final three points to even the match at 1-1.
The third set proved to be different the first two sets as there were only three ties. After the third tie at 8-8, Ohio Northern would outscore BW 17-9 to take the 2-1 lead.
After the second tie at 2-2 in the fourth and decisive set, the Yellow Jackets would come no closer than 10-8 as the Polar Bears went on to win the match.
BW was led offensively by senior middle hitter Colleen Bonacci (Stow/Stow-Munroe Falls) with 11 kills and four blocks. Senior outside hitter Kayla Harris (Lima) and junior middle hitter Markema Winters (Akron/Firestone) each added eight each. Senior outside hitter Taylor Burns (Fostoria/St. Wendelinn) tallied six. The offense was set up by senior setter Shannon Deleur (Olmsted Falls) with 32 set assists.
Defensively, freshman libero Arlayna Newcomer (Norwalk/St. Paul) led five Yellow Jacket defenders with 25 digs. Junior defensive specialist Paige Pileski (Elyria) and Deleur each recorded 16 digs. Freshman defensive specialist Allyson Iwanski (Stow/Stow-Munroe Falls) tallied 13 and Burns contributed 12.
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.
