GMMVC-3rd Place

After finishing the league play in the middle of the pack due to some injuries and average play, the men rebounded to finish in 3rd place in the Great Midwest Men's Volleyball Conference (part of MIVA). The men beat the University of Cincinnati in the 2nd round and lost to eventual champion GVSU in the semi-final match. We head to the MIVA Championships in Oshkosh, WI this weekend and then to NCVF Nationals in Louisville, KY. Also, continuing on the recruiting trail for the upcoming seasons of men's volleyball at Baldwin-Wallace College.

FINALLY BEAT ONU

For the first time in a long-time and possibly the history of men's volleyball at B-W, we beat Ohio Northern University! We played with a tremendous amount of energy and played excellent defense throughout the match. While we struggled in the second game and didn't match the energy, we bounced back and closed out the match in the third and deciding game. On to the GMMVC Championships on Sunday. Congrats fellas, great match!

Spring Break

Well, spring break has come and gone and so has the quiet campus that goes along with it. The guys headed home to Chicago, Hilton Head, West Virginia and of course greater Cleveland while some traveled to Mexico and Las Vegas (wish I could have gone there). Seems like everybody had a week to rest up for the final stretch of practice, MIVA league play and the NCVF National Tournament. Home stretch here we come.

Hoosier-Illini Classic

We were among the smallest two schools in attendance and one of the three Division II schools to compete this weekend so needless to say the competition is real. We played well and through a crucial injury to our MH. With a 3-4 point cushion versus GVSU, our MH sprained his ankle and we went on to lose the match. Jeff Thompson did a nice job rotating to the MH position and we played competitive the remainder of the tournament despite being short handed. We beat UIC and lost to UW-Milwaukee 18-16 in the third game...they went on to win the silver bracket. With a 14-13 lead and the serve, we couldn't pull out a victory. We are close to being a championship caliber team and we played great defense throughout the tournament. Spring break is coming up so stay tuned.

Oh the ups and downs of the season...

With injuries, sick players and even the recent death of my grandmother (February 13, 2010, just hours short of her birthday on Valentines Day), we are still plugging away and working on the fundamentals. If the guys continue to work on their ball control, we can be a dangerous team at the NCVF National Tournament at the end of the season. We resume practice on Thursday after a few days of calling hours and a funeral.

MIVA First and Second Round

Well, the first round of MIVA becames an interesting day as we got up at 5:15 a.m. last weekend to check the weather and make a decision on the safety of getting to the University of Dayton. The weather was a winday, snowy Sunday that had players stuck in snow at their apartments, me getting stuck on campus and others having to shovel in the early hours of the morning just to get to the recreation center. So YES, we were snowed out of the first day of our conference play. We did make it to Dayton leaving later Saturday afternoon when the weather cleared and competed in three matches on Sunday. We won versus Western Michigan and lost a close match to the University of Dayton. In the third game we were down 8-3 at the switch and fought back with a chance to tie the game at 12-12. We ended up losing that point and losing the third game and match 15-13. Looking forward to our next tournament in a few weeks as we play in the Hoosier Illini Classic.

All-Ohio

We came out strong at the All-Ohio Tournament last weekend easliy defeating BGSU and Youngstown State University 2-0. Of course the road got tougher against an Ohio State club loaded with a few former varsity players. In both sets the Yellow Jackets were tied or in the lead at 16s only to lose 25-21 in both matches. The holds true against a very good ONU team as we played tough and kept it close until late in the match. Overall, we played well and can take a lot away from this experience as we will continue to improve our ball control and work on our on-court communication. First round of the MIVA conference play is coming-up. Stay tuned...