BEREA, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University women's volleyball team faced the Hiram College Terriers for the 2022 home opener in Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center. Despite dropping set one to the Terriers (3-2), the Yellow Jackets (3-2) battled back to take the match in four sets by final set scores of 23-25, 26-24, 25-22, and 25-20.

SUMMARY

BW was down 18-13 in set one before battling back to tie the score at 22-22. An error by the Yellow Jackets forced a home team timeout. Out of the break, BW earned a kill to tie the game back up before the Terriers grabbed two points to close out the set. 

Hiram earned a 19-13 lead before the Yellow Jackets inched their way back and outscored the Terriers 8-3 to tie set two also at 22 a-piece. With the teams again were tied (24-24), a service error by the Terriers gave BW the advantage before sophomore Allison Weiner (Westerville/St. Francis DeSales) closed out the game (26-24) with a kill on the right side.

BW grabbed the early 4-0 jump on the Terriers and maintained an advantage until Hiram tied the game up at 16-16. The Yellow Jackets went up two points and kept that lead before a kill by sophomore outside hitter Sam Rueda (Aurora, Ill./Metea Valley) and an ace by junior setter Olivia Zawadzki (Hilliard/Darby put BW up four points. The Yellow Jackets closed out set three (25-22) with another kill from Weiner. 

After being tied with Hiram in set four at 14-14, BW went up 17-14 with three straight kills by Weiner. The Terriers then rattled off three straight points themselves before BW got back in control with a kill from Rueda to put the Yellow Jackets up 21-19, forcing a Hiram timeout. Out of the break, senior Academic All-OAC middle hitter Isa Luciano (Willoughby/South) notched two big aces to maintain the Yellow Jacket momentum (23-19). BW went on to claim the set (25-20) and match (3-1) win.

KEY STATS

16 - Weiner co-led the team in kills, and added six digs
30 - Sophomore All-OAC libero Lauren Gardner (Avon/Saint Joseph Academy) led the team in digs, totaling 30, and added three assists and one ace
48 & 16 - Zawadzki notched another double-double with 48 assists and 16 digs, and led the team in aces (3)
16 - Rueda also finished with 16 kills and nine digs

UP NEXT

The Yellow Jackets are back in action Friday, September 9 and Saturday, September 10 as they travel to Bluffton for the Spiketacular Invitational. BW will take on Bethany (W.Va.) College on Friday at 7:00 p.m. inside the Sommer Center.