WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University women's volleyball team has been voted by the Ohio Athletic Conference coaches to finish in fifth place in the annual preseason poll. They received 37 points.

BW sits three points behind Ohio Northern and nine points behind Marietta. 2025 OAC Champion Otterbein was voted to finish in first place with 64 points and received eight first-place votes. They were followed by Muskingum with 54 points and one first-place vote.

The previous two seasons, women's volleyball was voted to finish sixth in the preseason. The Yellow Jackets outperformed their 2025 projection by finishing fourth in the regular season with a 5-3 OAC record. This led to hosting their first OAC tournament match since 2018 inside Ursprung Gymnasium against Ohio Northern. BW fell to ONU in a five-set battle and finished the season 16-14 overall.

This season, Coach Kate Latkovic looks to build upon last year's success with three seniors and 11 newcomers. Also, there are two All-OAC student-athletes returning: senior right-side hitter Lexi Smith and sophomore middle hitter Josie Lynn. Smith was also named to the CSC Academic All-District squad for the first time in her career.

Women's volleyball gets the 2026 season started on Tuesday, September 1 on the road versus John Carroll at 7:00 p.m. in the DeCarlo Varsity Center in University Heights.