Volleyball

BEREA, Ohio -- The Baldwin-Wallace volleyball lost to Ohio Northern University today in the Ohio Athletic Conference Championship game 3-1 (30-21, 30-23, 26-30, 30-24). The Yellow Jackets finished as conference runners-up for the sixth time in school history including one championship.   second place in the OAC, place several players on the 2004 All-OAC Volleyball Teams, and won two individual awards.

The Yellow Jackets fell to 22-13 for the season while Ohio Northern improved to 29-4 overall and will receive an automatic bid to the 2004 NCAA Division III National Tournament.  

Offensively, senior Laura Leach (Norwalk/ Senior) led the way with 24 kills followed by junior Emily Albanese (Mentor) with 17 and freshman Kelsey Hills (Toledo/ St. Ursula Academy) with 14. Sophomre setter, Kristan Habegger (Oregon) set the offense up with 49 set assists. On the other side of the play, sophomore Kim Stoll (Norwalk/ St. Paul) led the team with 28 diggs followed by Albanese with 18, Habegger with 16, and freshman Meggie Martin (Bowling Green) with 12.

In addition to a strong 2004 tournament and regular season, Leach, Albanese, Stoll and Hills all earned All-OAC honors.  Hills was also named co-"Freshman Player of the Year" and Head Coach Vicki Brault was named OAC "Coach of the Year."

Leach became a three-time All-OAC award winner earning first-team All-OAC honors this season. During the season, Leach led the team with 607 kills, just seven kills short of the school record, a hitting percentage of .334, and a total of 82 blocks. Both Albanese and Stoll were awarded second-team All-OAC honors. Albanese, a very strong overall player, led the team with 58 service aces, was second on the team in digs with 602, and third on the team in hitting percentage of .266.  She was also third in kills with 563 and total blocks with 49. Stoll led the team with 834 digs, breaking her own school record which she set last season as a freshman. Hills was named honorable mention All-OAC. Hills was second on the team in kills with 369, hitting percentage with .269, and total blocks with 55.

Head Coach Vicki Brault was named OAC "Coach of the Year" for the second time in her career. She was also named "Coach of the Year" in 2000.  Brault has spent 10 years at B-W as Head Coach and 14th overall.  While at B-W, Brault has a 205-128 record and 275-278 during her 14-year career.  Earlier this season, Brault won her 200th game at B-W, defeating Marietta College, 3-0, on October 16.

B-W will now have to wait to see if they will be awarded an at-large spot in the 2004 NCAA Division III Volleyball Tournament which begins on Thursday, Nov. 11.

FOR MORE B-W SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact the B-W Sports Information Office by telephone at (440) 826-2327, by FAX at (440) 826-2329 or e-mail SID Kevin Ruple kruple@bw.edu. To reach Head Coach Vicki Brault, please call her at (440) 826-3254, FAX her at (440) 826-2192 or e-mail her vbrault@bw.edu.