Volleyball

BEREA, OHIO -- The Baldwin-Wallace College volleyball team plays its biggest match of the season tonight when the Yellow Jackets travel to Columbus to play Capital University in an Ohio Athletic Conference match at 7:00 p.m. in the Capital Center.

This match that has OAC and NCAA Division III National Tournament implications. With a win, B-W can both clinch an OAC regular-season title tie. B-W enters the match with a 15-12 overall and perfect 7-0 OAC record and is in first place all alone. Right behind the Yellow Jackets are both Capital (23-7 overall and 6-1 in the OAC) and Ohio Northern University (22-7 overall and 6-1 in the OAC).

A win at Capital and another this Friday when B-W hosts Marietta in its OAC regular season finale, and the Yellow Jackets would clinch their first-ever OAC outright regular season title. B-W tied ONU two years ago for the regular season crown -- its first-ever title.

If B-W were to lose tonight, it can still clinch a regular season title tie on Friday. Then, in terms of the OAC Tournament which begins on Tuesday, November 4, B-W can still clinch home court advantage throughout by winning just one game tonight at Capital. Earlier this year, B-W swept ONU in Berea, 3-0. Later in the fall, ONU swept Capital in Bexley, 3-0. By virtue of the sweeps, Capital would have to sweep B-W to push the OAC Final Four site to the next tie-breaker.

In terms of NCAA Division III National Tournament implications, this match is also huge for the Yellow Jackets. If B-W beats Capital and Marietta and wins the outright OAC regular seaason crown, it would then just have to make it to the OAC Championship Match next week to claim the OAC's automatic NCAA Tournament berth. B-W last appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 2000.

After 27 matches, senior All-OAC and All-Great Lakes Region middle hitter Cassie Palmer (Greenwich/ South Central) tops the Yellow Jackets with 514 kills and has a .301 attack percentage. She also leads the team in total blocks with 100 (45 solo and 55 assisted) and service aces with 41. Senior All-OAC and All-Region outside hitter/ rightside player Emily Bowen (Tiffin Columbian) is second in kills with 334, second in digs with 413 and third in blocks with 57. Junior All-OAC middle/ outside hitter Laura Leach (Norwalk Senior), who was lost for the season two weeks ago with an injury at the Wittenberg Tournament, is third in kills with 234, second in blocks with 62 and third with 26 servce aces. Senior setter Angie Elser (Wooster/ Northwestern) is first in set assists with 658 (6.51 per game) and is fifth in digs with 247. Freshman libero Kim Stoll (Norwalk St. Paul) has a team-leading 574 digs.

Cassie Palmer is this week's OAC Player of the Week. It is the second time this year that Palmer has won the award, and it is her fourth OAC Player of the Week award in her brilliant four-year career. She earned this week's accolade for her performances in wins against OAC and Cleveland cross-town rival John Carroll University, 3-1, in Berea last Tuesday and at Otterbein College, 3-2, in Westerville last Saturday. In the two matches, Palmer recorded 52 kills, 17 defensive digs, 14 blocks and six service aces.

FOR MORE B-W SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact B-W Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at (440) 826-2327, by FAX machine at (440) 826-2329 or via e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. B-W Head Volleyball Coach Vicki Brault can be reached by calling her at (440) 826-3254, FAX her at (440) 826-2192 or e-mail her at vbrault@bw.edu.