ALLIANCE, Ohio—The Mount Union women's volleyball team defeated Baldwin Wallace in the Ohio Athletic Conference quarterfinals in four sets (25-23, 35-33, 24-26, 25-18) Tuesday evening at the Timken Gymnasium.
 
The Purple Raiders (19-7, 7-3 OAC) were led by junior outside hitters Heaven Bartell (Cleveland / St. Joseph Academy) and Darby Leininger (Chardon / Beaumont) with 20 and 18 kills.
 
Junior setter Casey Kildow (Bethesda / Union Local) and freshman setter Melissa Hansen (Hudson) led the team in assists with 29 and 17 individually.
 
Freshman libero Averi Haley (Orrville) led the Purple Raiders in digs with 22 digs, Kildow had 21 while senior defensive specialist Adrian Petrisko (Elyria) and Bartell finished with 13 and 12 respectively.
 
Baldwin Wallace (12-13, 5-5 OAC) was led by Maleia Thurber with 17 kills, Olivia Zawadzki with 36 assists, and Lauren Gardner with 40 digs.
 
SET 1
The Raiders were able to start the set off strong getting a 2-0 lead, but the Yellow Jackets fought back with two points of their own to tie the game at 2. Both teams battled for the lead in the set, as the Raiders were able to go on a 6-4 scoring run, with Bartell leading the run with two kills, to take the lead 16-13. Both teams couldn't grab a lead larger than two points as there were seven ties in the set. The Raiders were able to go on a 6-5 scoring run to take the set 25-23 off a kill by Leininger.
 
SET 2
The second set saw 16 different ties and six lead changes as Mount Union got the set started once again on a 2-0 lead. However, Baldwin Wallace would not let up and fought back making the score 4-4. Mount Union came back on a 7-2 scoring run to take the lead 11-6 as Mount Union caused five Baldwin Wallace hitting errors. Baldwin Wallace was quick to close the scoring gap going on a 4-1 scoring run to make the score 12-10. Both teams continued battle and go on scoring runs, not surpassing three points in a run, which lead to both teams running out of subs as Baldwin Wallace took an 33-32 lead. Eventually, Mount Union was able to cause three errors from Baldwin Wallace to take the set 35-33.
 
SET 3
The Yellow Jackets were able to get the lead early going on a 3-1 scoring run. The Raiders were quick to answer, going on a 5-1 scoring run to take the lead 6-4. The Yellow Jackets continued to fight back going on an 15-6 scoring run and taking the lead 19-12. Mount Union fought back going on an 8-0 scoring run to tie the game 24-24. However, Baldwin Wallace was able to break the tie and take the final two points and the set 26-24.

SET 4
The Raiders were quick to the lead going on a 7-2 run to start the set with a kill from Bartell, Leininger, Hansen and junior Alexis Meyer (Avon Lake). The Yellow Jackets responded going on a 6-3 scoring run to make the score 10-8 once again. The Raiders went on a 7-3 scoring run to extend their lead 16-11. The Raiders were able to keep their lead and take the match 25-18.
 
Mount Union will travel to Marietta for the OAC semifinals on Thursday November 9th at 7 p.m.