Volleyball

BEREA, OHIO -- The Baldwin-Wallace College volleyball team ended another extremely successful season last Saturday (Nov. 8) when it placed second at the 2003 Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament which was held on campus in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium. The Yellow Jacket netters have great reason to be thankful.

B-W finished with an 18-16 overall record and played the most competitive schedule in the history of its program. The Yellow Jackets tied for the 2003 OAC regular season title with Ohio Northern University and Capital University. The title was B-W's second in the past three years. In addition, the Jackets' made it to the OAC Final Four for the fourth straight time. Inaddition, B-W was ranked as high as 21st nationally by the AVCA (American Volleyball Coaches Association).

Four outstanding senior players, Cassie Palmer (Greenwich/ South Central), Emily Bowen (Tiffin Columbian), Angie Elser (Wooster Northwestern) and Kerry Helm (Luckey/ Eastwood) became the first group of four-year Yellow Jacket players to win 100 or more matches in their careers. The senior quartet finished with 102 victories and an overall mark of 102-37. The four were key contributors to B-W's two OAC regular season titles (2001 and 2003), one OAC Tournament crown (2000) and an NCAA Division III National Tournament appearance (2000).

This year, B-W played its best-ever schedule. Veteran Head Coach Vicki Brault wanted to play the best in Division III with hopes of preparing her team for the OAC Tournament and a possible spot in the Division III National Tournament. It worked almost to perfection. Brault's squad played 12 teams ranked in the AVCA Top-25 and had a 4-8 record against those teams. If junior middle/ outside hitter Laura Leach (Norwalk) hadn't gotten hurt at Wittenberg who knows what this team might have accomplished. To Brault's and her team's credit, it never used Leach's injury as an excuse that it didn't win the OAC tourney and earn the OAC's automatic berth into the national tournament.

"I am so proud of this team, and especially the four seniors," said Brault, now 253-165 in her career and 183-115 in nine years at B-W. "Our seniors played their hearts out and left it all out on the court. We gave it a great run.

"We had a very good season when you consider the type of competition that we played," continued Brault. "We did not shy away from anyone. We beat four teams ranked in the Top-25. Our four seniors can walk away from the court with their heads held high. They have made a great contribution to B-W and its volleyball program."

On one weekend in particular, Brault's team was put to the toughest test in Division III. On September 19-20, it traveled to St. Louis, Missouri and Washington University. At Wash. U., B-W played number one-ranked Juniata (Pa.), second-ranked Trinity (Texas) University and third-ranked Wash. U.

In 34 matches, Cassie Palmer topped the Yellow Jackets with a single-season school-record 636 kills and had a .292 attack percentage. She also led the team in total blocks with 139 (54 solo and 85 assisted) and service aces with 50. Emily Bowen was second in kills with 447, second in digs with 505 and second in blocks with 80. Junior Laura Leach (Norwalk Senior), who was lost for the season with an injury at the Wittenberg Tournament, was third in kills with 234, third in blocks with 62 and third with 26 servce aces. Angie Elser was first in set assists with 920 (7.24 per game) and fourth in digs with 327. Kim Stoll had a team-leading and school single-seaason record 754 digs. Kari Kuhn was second with 37 service aces and third with 421 digs.

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Palmer, Bowen and Leach Named All-Ohio Athletic Conference -- Cassie Palmer, Emily Bowen and Laura Leach were all named All-OAC. Palmer and Bowen were first-team picks and Leach made honorable mention. It is Palmer's fourth straight All-OAC award and third in a row on the first-team. It is Bowen's third straight award and second straight on the first-team. Leach was a second-team pick last year.

The Record Setters -- Cassie Palmer finished with a school career-record 1,830 kills and 573 total blocks, including 211 solo blocks. Her 211 solo blocks ranks second all-time. In addition, Palmer had 95 career service aces to rank eighth. Bowen finished third all-time in kills (1,428) and digs (1,669). Her 447 kills ranked fourth best in a single season and her 505 digs this year was sixth-best in a season. Senior Kerry Helm (Luckey/ Eastwood), a two-time All-OAC second-team pick, finished third all-time in set assists with 3,027. Her 1,418 set assists in 2002 is second all-time and her 1,373 in 2001 is third all-time.