MARIETTA, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University women's volleyball team, led by Head Coach
Kate Latkovic, clinched the No. 6 seed in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) tournament after beating Marietta College by a score of 3-2 (25-22, 25-19, 18-25, 22-25, 15-11) inside Ban Johnson Arena to improve to 17-7 overall and 4-4 in the conference.
Game Recap
Set 1 (BW, 25-22): The first rally of the game was called a kill by senior right side hitter
Lexi Smith, but Marietta challenged this call and won. BW scored the next four points and held the lead the entire way out. There were no ties after the score was 1-1. Freshman outside hitter
Brenna Leach led the offense with six kills.
Set 2 (BW, 25-19): Following a service ace by Marietta to open the second set, the Yellow Jackets took flight with a 9-1 scoring run that included two kills from Leach and two from freshman middle hitter
Morgan Petrecca. This was Baldwin Wallace's best set offensively with a .189 hitting percentage as a team and 14 kills. Petrecca and junior All-OAC middle hitter
Josie Lynn combined for eight kills to lead the team to a commanding victory.
Set 3 (MAR, 25-18): The Yellow Jackets stuck with the formula that had worked for them so far to begin the third set. After starting down 0-1, they went on a 7-1 scoring run. Then, the Pioneers kicked off their block party, and they didn't invite the Yellow Jackets. Marietta had six blocks this set, including back-to-back blocks to shrink their early deficit and a solo block to win set point.
Set 4 (MAR, 25-22): The Pioneers attempted to steal the match momentum after going up 3-0 to start the fourth set. BW pushed back by tying the score at 3-3, and they never let Marietta get too comfortable. There were 11 ties and four lead changes in this grudge match. Marietta took a 20-20 tie and scored to make it set point after a 4-0 run. The Pioneers shortly thereafter forced a fifth set.
Set 5 (BW, 15-11): Resiliency was the key for BW entering this do-or-die fifth set. They jumped out to a 4-0 lead after a leadoff kill by junior outside hitter
Lyla Nash and capitalized on three consecutive attack errors by Marietta. The Pioneers never got closer than two points to BW as they took care of business to win this crucial match.
The Matchup
The Yellow Jackets are 13-7 against Marietta since 2008 with their most recent match resulting in a 3-1 Pioneers victory inside Ban Johnson Arena. BW is 2-3 in their last five matchups against Marietta.
Looking Ahead
The Brown and Gold will return home to celebrate their seniors in the regular season finale against Denison on Friday, November 6 at 7:00 p.m. inside Ursprung Gymnasium.
