MECHANICSBURG, Pa. - The Baldwin Wallace University men's volleyball opened the 2025 season at the Messiah Invitational hosted by Messiah (Pa.) University where the Yellow Jackets defeated Randolph-Macon (Va.) College and No. 14 nationally ranked Misericordia (Pa.) University, and fell to host Messiah on Jordan Court inside Hitchcock Arena.

BW (2-1) opened the campaign on a high note by picking up their first win of the season Friday night against Randolph-Macon by set scores of 27-25, 26-28, 25-20, and 25-14. The Yellow Jackets then took the first set from the Falcons on Saturday morning but fell in four sets by scores of 25-23, 23-25, 22-25, and 21-25 in a battle between two AVCA Top-20 waitlist teams. However, the Brown and Gold bounced back by completing the reverse sweep of one of the top teams in the nation as they took down No. 14 Misericordia by scores of 19-25, 17-25, 25-20, 25-20, and 15-7 to close the Invitational.

vs. Randolph-Macon (1-3)

• Senior All-MCVL outside hitter Ted Hofmeister (Powell/Saint Charles) led the team in kills with 14 and in digs with 12 in his first game as a Yellow Jacket
• Senior Academic All-MCVL setter Carson Junker (Massillon/Jackson) recorded a team-high 32 assists and senior Academic All-MCVL setter Evan Herbst (Hamburg, N.Y.) contributed 14 assists
• Sophomore outside hitter Daniel Latham (Westerville/Westerville Central) finished with 11 kills, four block assists, and three digs
• Sophomore All-MCVL outside hitters Owen Huynh (Loveland) and Jacob Esteves (Wickliffe/St. Edward) each added eight kills
• Junior Academic All-MCVL libero Aiden Kim (Bothell, Wash./North Creek) tallied nine digs
• Junior Academic All-MCVL middle hitter Josh Steinitz (Towson, Md./Friends School of Baltimore) and senior All-MCVL middle hitter Reed Fisher (Freedom, Pa./Ambridge Area) each had six kills
• Freshman defensive specialist David Abercrombie (Maricopa, Ariz.) recorded one ace in his collegiate debut
• BW hit .316 including .552 in the fourth and final set

at Messiah (3-0)

• Sophomore defensive specialist Jack Sullenberger (Powell/Olentangy Liberty) finished with a team-high 12 digs
• Huynh started the day off with 10 kills against the Cougars
• Junior Academic All-MCVL outside hitter Colby Whiteside (Powell/Olentangy Liberty) had a statline of six kills, two aces, and one block assist
• Esteves recorded six kills and three block solos
• Hofmeister led the Brown and Gold again with 11 kills
• Junker and Herbst assisted 27 times and 15 times, respectively
• The Yellow Jackets served up eight aces to Messiah's three

vs. No. 14 Misericordia (4-4)

• Senior All-MCVL outside hitter Michael Beard (Hilliard/Darby) led the team with 13 digs and added nine kills and a clutch block to ice the fifth set
• Huynh recorded a weekend-high 16 kills for the Yellow Jackets
• Fisher recorded eight kills, six block assists, an ace, and hit .545 on 11 attempts
• Whiteside assisted on five blocks and contributed seven kills
• Junker tallied a career-high 46 assists to bring him to 105 on the weekend
• Latham also added six block assists and nine kills
• Sullenberger added eight digs 

The Yellow Jackets are back in action on Friday, January 24 as the team opens the Baldwin Wallace Invitational by hosting the Milwauke (Wisc.) School of Engineering at 8 p.m. in Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center. On Saturday, January 25, BW will take on the No. 15 nationally ranked University of California-Santa Cruz at 6 p.m. and will close the Invitational on Sunday, January 26 against No. 11 nationally ranked St. John Fisher (N.Y.) University at 2:30 p.m.