SANDUSKY, Ohio – Senior All-Ohio Athletic Conference libero Lauren Gardner (Avon/Saint Joseph Academy) recorded her 1000th career dig but the Baldwin Wallace University women's Volleyball team dropped a pair of season opening non-conference matches at Great Lakes Crossover hosted by Heidelberg University at the Cedar Point Sports Center.
Gardner, the defending OAC Libero of the Year, entered the weekend with 986 career digs and tallied number 1000 during the third set of BW's (0-2) loss against Bethany (W.Va.) College (2-0). She went on to tally 24 more in the Yellow Jacket's nail-biting five-set loss against Grove City (Pa.) College (2-0).
MATCH 1
The Yellow Jackets grabbed the first point of the game with a kill from sophomore outside hitter Gabby Schlecht (Naperville, Ill./North), but that would be the only time BW held the lead in the set as Bethany took a commanding 21-12 lead and claimed the 25-17 set win.
After falling to an early 10-6 deficit in the second set, the Yellow Jackets battled back to tie things up at 23 thanks to big plays from Schlecht, sophomore hitter Taylor Denall (East Amherst, N.Y./Clarence), and junior Academic All-OAC hitter Allison Weiner (Westerville/St. Francis Desales). The Bison would then quickly pull away to win the set 25-23.
BW would go on to take a 13-10 lead in the middle of the third set until Bethany scored eight unanswered points leading them to a 25-17 set victory.
KEY STATS
- 13 – Sophomore setter Katarina Blazetic (DeLand, Fla./Deland) recorded a team high 13 assists while adding two digs and two service aces
- 18 – Gardner tallied a total of 18 digs in Game 1 for the Yellow Jackets including the 1000th of her career
- Schlecht finished with a team high 12 kills while also recording 9 digs for the Yellow Jackets
MATCH 2
BW dropped set one 25-20 before running away with the lead in set two after a pair of kills from senior Academic All-OAC outside hitter Nicole Logan (Hilliard/Darby) with the Yellow Jackets winning set two 25-20. The third set also belonged to BW (26-22) as Weiner and sophomore middle hitter Maleia Thurber (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) both recorded three kills each.
Grove City jumped out to a 24-14 lead in the fourth set and went on to win to force the fifth and final set. The Wolverines scored four straight early to claim a 9-5 lead but the Yellow Jackets rattled off three straight of their own thanks to kills from Logan and Schlecht. From there, Grove City went up 14-12 and was the first to 15 points with a final set score of 15-13.
KEY STATS
- 12 – Weiner and Schlecht led the team with 12 kills each in game two
- 29 – Senior All-OAC setter Olivia Zawadzki (Hilliard/Darby) had 29 assists and also added 8 digs
- Junior outside hitter Sam Rueda (Aurora, Ill./Metea Valley) contributed 9 kills and 14 digs
UP NEXT
BW is back in action tomorrow for the second and final day of the Great Lakes Cross Over as they will take on Suffolk (Mass.) at 8:00 a.m.
