The Baldwin Wallace University Volleyball and Men's Soccer Teams Open 2004
Ohio Athletic Conference Tourney Action This Week
BEREA, OHIO — The Baldwin Wallace University volleyball and men's soccer team both open Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament action this week.
The Yellow Jacket volleyball team, 20-12 overall, finished 7-2 during the OAC regular season and is seeded second. BW will open play on Tuesday night at the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium at 7:00 p.m. when it faces Otterbein College. The Yellow Jackets defeated Otterbein, 3-0, earlier this season in Westerville. BW and Otterbein have previously met three times in OAC Tournament action with BW winning all three times.
Entering the OAC Tournament, BW is led offensively by senior two-time All-OAC middle hitter Laura Leach (Norwalk) leads the offense with 568 kills (4.98/ game) and has the most blocks with 78, including 60 solo blocks. In addition, Leach tops the team in hitting at .346 and has 177 digs and 28 service aces. Freshman outside hitter Kelsey Hills (Toledo/ St. Ursula) is second with 347 kills, is hitting .274 and has 50 blocks to rank second. Junior rightside player Emily Albanese (Mentor) leads the team with 53 aces, is second with 575 digs, third with a .262 hitting percentage and third with 48 blocks and 334 kills. Freshman OH Meggie Marten (Bowling Green) is fourth on the squad with 169 kills. She also has 353 digs and 39 aces. Freshman setter Nicole Igarashi (Eastlake/ North) tops the team with 1,083 assists (11.4/ game), is fifth with 345 digs. Sophomore libero Kim Stoll (Norwalk/ St. Paul) tops the team with a single-season school-record 782 digs and also has 33 aces to rank fourth. Senior defensive specialist Kari Kuhn (Amherst/ Steele) is third with 495 digs and second with 49 aces. Freshman MH Betsy Gilbert (Mansfield/ Madison) is fourth in blocks with 33. Gilbert also has 80 kills and 59 digs.
With a win against Otterbein, BW would advance to the OAC Final Four on Friday and Saturday, November 5-6, which will be held at the site of the highest remaining seeded team. Regular season champion Ohio Northern University (9-0) is the top seed. If it wins on Tuesday, the Final Four will take place in Ada, Ohio.
The Yellow Jacket men's soccer team, 14-4-1 overall, finished 5-3-1 during the OAC regular season and will be making its first-ever appearance in the OAC four-team tourney. BW will travel to Wilmington, Ohio to play regular season champion Wilmington College at 7:00 p.m.
The 14 victories by the men's soccer squad marks the second time in four years that BW has set and now tied the school-record for victories in a season. The Yellow Jackets also played the Quakers of Wilmington last Saturday at The George Finnie Stadium in Berea and the two teams tied, 0-0 in double overtime.
After 19 games, freshman forward Brian Sugerman (Akron/ Richfield Revere) tops the team in scoring with 23 points on a team-high 11 goals and one assist. Freshman forward Alex Restaino (Hudson) is second in scoring with 12 points and second in goals with six. Sophomore All-OAC midfielder Louie Rolko (Hudson) has the most assists with seven and sophomore All-OAC midfielder Alex Williams-Witzky (Marysville) is second with six assists and third in scoring with 11 points. Williams-Witzky has taken the most shots with 39, followed by freshman forward Matt Pietro (Canfield) with 36, Sugerman with 33 and Rolko with 27. Overall, BW has outscored its opponents, 45-18 (one own-goal) and outshot them, 285-212. In goal, junior Nate Christian (North Ridgeville) has played in all 19 games and a total of 1,714 minutes and has faced 210 total shots, including 97 on-goal. He has a 0.95 goal-against-average with the school-record-tying eight shutouts and 80 saves.
With a win versus Wilmington on Wednesday, BW would advance to the OAC Championship Game this Saturday and play the winner of the John Carroll University versus Ohio Northern University game in either University Heights (JCU) or Ada (ONU).
FOR MORE BW SPORTS INFORMATION, please call Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327, FAX him at 440-826-2329 or e-mail him at kruple@bw.edu.