BEREA, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University women's volleyball team led by first-year head coach Kate Latkovic is ready to take the court for the 2024 season.
Coach Latkovic, a former assistant coach for the Yellow Jackets from 2007-08, returns to Berea after compiling a 175-57 record at Cleveland's St. Joseph Academy over the past nine seasons. Latkovic inherits a program that returns 11 letterwinners, two All-Ohio Athletic Conference players, and seven Academic All-OAC selections from last year's team which finished with an overall record of 12-13 and a record of 5-4 in conference play on its way to the program's first OAC Tournament berth since the 2020 season. The Yellow Jackets were picked to finish sixth in this season's OAC Preseason Coaches Poll.
BW returns its top producers from both the offensive and defensive side of the net in senior All-OAC outside hitter Sam Rueda (Aurora, Ill./Metea Valley) and senior All-OAC libero Lauren Gardner (Avon/St. Joseph Academy).
Rueda comes off her second straight season leading the Yellow Jackets in kills with a career-high 247 through 25 matches and 77 sets for an average of 3.21 kills per set: the sixth best in the OAC. Defensively, she was second on the team in digs with a career-high 222 and third on the team with 25 total blocks in 2023. Rueda's all-around production earned her All-OAC honorable mention and OAC Offensive Player of the Week honors for the first time in her career.
Gardner, a three-time All-OAC selection, tallied a team-leading 436 digs including the 1,000th of her career in 2023. In her 23 matches and 78 sets, she averaged 5.59 digs per set which led the team, was second in the OAC, and was 24th in NCAA Division III. Gardner also added 75 assists and 17 service aces on her way to her first career All-OAC first-team selection. She was also named OAC Defensive Player of the Week on October 10 last season.
Other starters returning for the Brown and Gold include senior Academic All-OAC outside hitter Allison Weiner (Westerville/St. Francis DeSales) and junior Academic All-OAC outside hitter Gabby Schlecht (Naperville, Ill./North). Weiner appeared in every match last season where she was second on the team in kills with 151 and posted a career-high 20 total blocks. Schlecht was a major contributor in all facets of last year's team as she was fourth on the team in both kills and digs with 136 and 147, respectively.
Junior Academic All-OAC setter Katarina Blazetic (DeLand, Fla.) will get the second touches for Coach Latkovic's squad this year after finishing the 2023 season with a career-high 327 assists which leads all BW returners. Playing in all 25 matches for the Yellow Jackets, she also tallied career-highs in digs with 117 and in aces with 28.
Also adding to the offense will be senior outside hitter Sydney Simonson (Sullivan/Black River), who recorded a career-high 120 kills last year, and sophomore outside hitter Lexi Smith (Tiffin/Columbian) who had 86 kills. Defensively, Simonson added 13 blocks and 21 digs, while Smith contributed 10 blocks, and 26 digs in her freshman season.
Junior Academic All-OAC libero Jamie Snell (Strongsville) will be another leader on the Yellow Jacket defense after tallying a career-high 133 digs last season with 15 assists and 10 aces.
Coach Latkovic also brings back veteran leaders in middle hitter Alyssa Saghy (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) and Academic All-OAC defensive specialist Ashleigh Curtiss (Bolingbrook, Ill.) to help lead the Yellow Jackets in their senior season.
The Yellow Jackets open the 2024 campaign on Friday, August 30 as the team travels to Springfield to take on No. 24 nationally ranked Mount St. Joseph University at the Wittenberg Fall Classic hosted by Wittenberg University in Pam Evans Smith Arena at 4:30 p.m.
