BEREA, Ohio –Mount Union's women's volleyball team defeated Baldwin Wallace, 3-1, Wednesday night in an Ohio Athletic Conference matchup in Ursprung Gymnasium.
 
The set scores were 25-21, 25-27, 25-19 and 25-18 in favor of Mount Union that is now 20-5 and 7-1 OAC, while Baldwin Wallace drops to 17-10 overall and 3-5 in the OAC.  
 
The Purple Raiders are tied with Ohio Northern at first place in the conference standings and will look to grab the OAC regular season title in a winner take-all regular season finale Saturday at 1 p.m. in Ada. It would be Mount Union's first outright OAC title since 2014. 
 
The Raiders were led on offense by junior Isabella Sprunger (North Royalton) and freshman Heaven Bartell (Cleveland / St. Joseph Academy) as both finished with 13 kills. Bartell had 0 errors on the night hitting .464 while Sprunger had 1 error hitting .500. 
 
Senior Maria Ellesin (Alliance / Marlington) and freshman Alexis Meyer (Avon Lake) finished with 10 and eight kills respectively.
 
Junior setters Mollie Thomas (Massillon / Massillon Perry) and Katie May (Brecksville / Independence) finished with 22 and 20 assists.
 
On the defensive end Mount Union finished with 14 blocks on the night led by Meyer and freshman Catherine Klopp (Sycamore / Mohawk) each picked up 3.5 blocks on the night while freshman Darby Leininger (Chardon / Beaumont) picked up 2.5 blocks.
 
Junior libero Alyssa Kasaris (North Royalton) had a game-high 27 digs while Thomas and Bartell finished with 12 and 11.
  
In set one Mount Union jumped out to a 10-3 lead with Klopp and Ellesin both picking up two kills each. Baldwin Wallace brought it back with three, but a 3-0 run by Mount Union extended the lead back out to six leading 16-10. Baldwin Wallace got within three, but a Klopp block ended the set with a score of 25-21.
 
Mount Union once again jumped out to a lead this time 8-3 thanks to two blocks from the Raiders and a service ace from Kasaris. Baldwin Wallace slowly cut the lead down and took the lead at 19-18 and 23-21. Both teams were tied at 23, 24 and 25's but Baldwin Wallace finished the set scoring the final two points.
 
Both teams stayed within three until a 7-1 run extended the Raiders lead to 17-11. The Raiders used four blocks in the set and to cause Baldwin Wallace to hit just .057.
 
Mount union in the fifth set took the lead at 16-15 and then proceeded to go on a 9-3 run to end the set. Mount Union hit .312 while making just two errors in the set and caused seven errors by Baldwin Wallace hitting just .216 in the set.