Ashland University volleyball ended a five game home stand this weekend by splitting games between two ranked opponents. The fourth ranked Ferris State defeated AU on Friday, but the Eagles came back on Saturday to win against the 21st ranked Grand Valley State.

Ferris State is ranked in the top five in the country and met AU with only one loss so far in their season. This game was a great opportunity to showcase the Eagles potential, unfortunately, AU lost in straight sets (3-0).

However, they did not go down without a fight. The Eagles may not have won a set, but every set was a battle for Ferris State. AU lost the first two sets 25-23 and lost the final set 25-22. All three sets were close and head coach Cass Dixon saw what Ashland’s potential can be, moving forward.

“I think we are really close to being that team that is consistently ranked in the top 25 in the country,” said Dixon. “If you look at the stats, we beat them in almost every statistical category except for attack percentage and unforced errors.”

When it comes to errors, the Eagles had 16 while the Bulldogs only had 11. Five errors does not seem like a huge difference, but when the match was lost by a combined total of just seven points, those errors can be costly. Dixon saw that as the main reason they were not able to finish the match with a win.

“It came down to unforced errors,” Dixon said. “We made more errors than they did, but we out killed them, we had just as many aces as they did, we had more blocks than they did. So, we’re there, we just have to change a few things. We just have to be a little more consistent, keep balls in play and wait for opportunities to take those big swings.”

Alli Cudworth and Samantha Zuber were the leaders in kills for AU with 13 and 10 respectively. Casey Clark also had a strng showing with 13 digs to go along with her 8 kills.

The Eagles responded to the tough loss with a victory over Grand Valley State (3-1).

AU won the first set 25-23, lost the second set 14-25 and won the next two sets 25-20 and 25-14.

In Dixon’s career with the Eagles, she has yet to defeat the Lakers and this win marked an exciting moment for her as a coach but also for her team.

“(After) winning the first set, we came out in the second set pretty flat. I think we expected to win,” said Dixon. “By the end of the second set, we knew what we were doing, and we were able to capitalize on that in the third and fourth sets.”

Freshman middle blocker Reanne Neal and junior setter Katie Siefert came off the bench giving the team the momentum they needed in the second set and throughout the rest of the game.

Siefert tailed 24 assists, two service aces and nine digs while Neal added four kills and five block assists to her stats. 

Cudworth led the team in both kills and digs with 18 kills and 13 digs. Clark contributed nine kills and 12 digs in the match.

Cudworth has performed great so far in the season and has been one of the top players in the GLIAC, as she currently leads the conference in kills.

“(Cudworth) has been doing a great job,” said Dixon. “She’s been really consistent all the way through. She’s able to score, not only when she has no block or one block, but consistently against double blocks against her on the other side of the court.”

AU will head out to Chicago for the Midwest Region Volleyball Crossover. Their first matchup will be with The University of Indianapolis whom they have faced and defeated this season twice so far. The Eagles will then compete against Truman State and McKendree University. The Crossover tournament begins on Friday and continues through Saturday evening.