KPs D3 Match of the Week – Wittenberg Gets A Big Conference Win On The Road Against Baldwin Wallace

15 mars 2025

Volley

Wittenberg hit the road on Friday, March 14th for KP’S Match of the Week against Baldwin Wallace. The Wittenberg Tigers came out on top (19-25, 25-22, 25-19, 27-25). The MCVL conference match was the first victory for newly hired Wittenberg interim head coach Jamie Peterson.

In the first set the Tigers got off to a slow start hitting .107 as a team. They found a nice offensive rhythm in the next three sets to pull out a victory. Throughout the match they extended rallies and found ways to terminate the ball in transition. After the match Coach Peterson was interview by her athletic department, “we played a tough team that made changes mid-match, and we responded well. We had players come off the bench ready to go and take big swings. I am super proud of our toughness.”

Setter Carson Hill did a fabulous job running a balanced offense for the Tigers. They ended up hitting .250 as a team and had three guys post over eight kills. Eli Halverson led the charge with 10, Zach Newton contributed 9, Adam Blair and Trajan Kress finished with eight. “Hats off to coach Peterson for taking over on short notice and having her guys prepped to compete. They were steady in transition and made it difficult for us to terminate balls as efficiently as we would have liked,” said Baldwin Wallace Head Coach Kyle Mars.

Baldwin Wallace has many reasons to remain optimistic. They finished the match leading in kills (56), assist (53), five aces and digs (40). The Tigers had 43 kills, 36 assists and 39 digs. The difference in the match was that the Tigers forced Baldwin Wallace to make 25 attacking errors. “This is the second time in as many matches that we have outscored our opponent and not come away with a win. Scoring with aggression, but doing so efficiently is something we will continue to work on,” said Coach Mars.

Baldwin Wallace was led by outside hitter Daniel Latham who finished with 24 kills and five digs. “Dan is learning how to match his physicality with efficiency, and he is becoming a force in Region IV on both pins for us. He was asked to change positions mid-year, and has stepped up for the team when we need him most. The most impressive thing he has done over the last month has been buying into passing, and has steadily found consistency there after spending most of his time on the right side the past year and a half,” said Coach Mars.

Trine and Mount Union remains undefeated in the MCVL. The Tigers earning the win against Baldwin Wallace puts them back in contention. The second half of conference play will be fun to watch. Both Baldwin Wallace and Wittenberg only have one conference loss and can clearly still win conference.

Baldwin Wallace:

Volleyball History:

Conference championship in 2023 (def. Mount Union 3-1 in MCVL Championship Game).
NCAA Tournament Appearance in 2023 (lost to Juniata 3-0 in the First Round)
MCVL Tournament appearances in 2023 & 2024.
Member of the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League.
Has five All-MCVL selections. Outside Michael Beard, four time from 2021-24.
Outside Ted Hofmeister, three times at Trine University from 2022-24.
Opposite Michael Devlin 2023.
Outside Owen Huynh 2024.
Middle Reed Fisher 2024.
Hofmeister is the reigning MCVL Player of the Year after grad transferring in from Trine and recorded his 1,000th kill earlier this
Coach Mars has been the head coach for all five years of the program (2021-Present)

Academics:

A private university in Berea, Ohio was founded in 1845.
With an enrollment of 3,318. It has 65 undergraduate majors

Wittenberg:

Volleyball History:

Wittenberg Men’s Volleyball has won three conference championships – 2019 (AMCC), 2023 (MCVL) and 2024 (MCVL).
The Tigers have not advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament in their 10-year history. Last year was the closest they have come, losing to Trine in the MCVL Tournament championship match, 3-1.
Wittenberg is in Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League. Baldwin Wallace was picked to finish first, and Wittenberg was picked to finish second in the preseason coaches’ poll.
The most notable Wittenberg alumnus with a connection to the sport of volleyball is Jim Coleman, class of 1953.  https://www.volleyhall.org/dr-james-coleman.html

Academics:

The campus is in Springfield, Ohio and established in 1845.
About 1200 undergraduates and 50 graduate students
Average GPA 3.5, ACT 23 and SAT 1,162
More info can be found: https://www.wittenberg.edu/about/witt-by-the-numbers

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