SPRINGFIELD — The Wittenberg men's volleyball team beat Baldwin Wallace 3-1 in a contest that would have the winning team standing alone at the top of the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League. Wittenberg won by scores of 25-22, 15-25, 25-21, 25-21.

The Basics

• Records: Wittenberg (12-8 overall, 4-0 MCVL), Baldwin Wallace (9-12 overall, 3-1 MCVL)
• Venue: Pam Evans Smith Arena - Springfield, Ohio

Stat Leaders

• Sophomore Michael Yurk (Indianapolis, Ind./Bishop Chatard) led the Tigers with 16 kills and a hitting percentage of .419, only behind sophomore Eli Halverson (Hamilton, Ohio/Badin), who had a hitting percentage of .467, for players with 15 or more attacks.
• Sophomore Sam Richardson (Akron, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) had 27 assists, ten more than the next closest player in senior Andrew Diaz de Padilla (Nipmo, Calif./Central Coast New Tech), who finished with 17.
• Senior Tom Supan (Medina, Ohio/Medina) had the most digs of any player in the match with 10, and Yurk was tied for second overall with eight digs of his own.
• Freshman Reese Monnin (Xenia, Ohio/Carroll) had a team-high four block assists to go along with his 11 kills, which was second on the team.
• Michael Beard led Baldwin Wallace with 13 kills.

The Game

• In the first set, both teams went back and forth up until the Tigers took a 22-21 lead and taking hold of the set with a service ace from Yurk and two Baldwin Wallace errors, winning 25-22.
• The Yellow Jackets came out on fire in the second set, leading 12-5, and continued their hot streak to tie the match at one set apiece, winning 25-15.
• Once again, both teams went back and forth in the third set before Wittenberg went up 21-19 and finished off with a kill from Monnin and a block by Monnin and Yurk before a couple of Baldwin Wallace errors and capped a 25-21 set win with a kill by senior Kurt Klamfoth (Gahanna, Ohio/Lincoln).
• For the first part of the fourth set, the teams were even up until 6-6. After that point, Wittenberg went on a run, taking a 21-15 lead. Yurk had two kills, with the second sealing the win, and sophomore Trajan Kress (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore) had a service ace, and the set ended 25-21.

Quote - Head coach Nathan Matthews

• "Words can't express how proud I am of this team. We spent 367 days preparing for this match. To get it done was an incredible feeling. This team won because of their ability to be selfless and put the team first. If they keep doing that, who knows where they can go."

Records & Milestones

• Third-year head coach Nathan Matthews is now 42-35 all-time at Wittenberg.
• Wittenberg is now 2-4 all-time against Baldwin Wallace.
• Diaz de Padilla has 490 assists this season and ranks third in program history with 1,100 career assists. His 610 assists from last season rank seventh in program history for a single season.
• Yurk has 252 kills this season and ranks sixth in program history with 445 career kills. He currently ranks seventh in program history for single-season kills.
• Supan has 377 career kills, which ranks 10th all-time at Wittenberg. His 278 career digs rank eighth in program history in that category.

Up Next

• The Tigers return to action on Friday at MCVL foe Adrian at 7 p.m.