Cass Dixon and the Eagles started off this year like years past with a season-opening tournament. This year, the team traveled to St. Paul, Minnesota where they met up with Concordia St. Paul, Missourt S&T, Southwest Minnesota State, and Wheeling Jesuit. 

AU v. Concordia- St. Paul

L 3-0 14-25, 13-25, 13-25

On the first night of action, they faced defending national champs Concordia St. Paul and fell three straight sets in just under one hour of play. 

Out of 92 attempts, the Eagles only recorded 22 kills and 20 assists. Sophomore Rylee Scott led the Eagles at the net with six kills. Sophomore outside hitter Casey Clark was not far behind with 27 attempts and five kills. Sophmore setter Katie Seifert led the team with 22 assists. 

Senior blocker Maureen Johnson had two blocks that came at clutch times for the Eagles, but the team could not capitalize. Concordia hit .386 on the day with 37 assists.

9/5/14 AU v. Missouri S&T

L 3-1 21-25, 17-25, 32-30, 15-25

The second match in St. Paul was a better performance than the first, but the Eagles came up short, losing the first two sets, winning the third, and then losing the final. 

Ashland improved their hitting percentage with 54 kills on 172 attempts. 

Sophomore outside hitter Alli Cudworth strongly led the Eagles as she recorded 21 kills of 44 attempts. 

As a team, the Eagles led in blocks for the match with three solo and 20 block assists. Johnson contributed highly to that with the three solo blocks and six block assists. 

Ashland’s defense was solid as well. Sophomore Casey Clark showed strength in the back row with 19 digs. In the third set of the match, both teams were on their “A” game.

Ashland took an 11-7 lead in the beginning and as the game went on, MS&T stayed right with them, exchanged point for point and sent the score all the way up to 30-30 before Clark helped close out the Eagle’s first set win of the season. 

The Eagles fell behind 7-2 in the fourth set quickly and were not able to turn it around. 

9/6/14 AU v. Southwest Minnesota State 

L 23-25, 7-25, 25-22, 21-25

After their first two matches, Ashland wasn’t having the start to their season they expected. The Eagles’ defeat continued with a loss to Southwest Minnesota State 3-1, in the same fashion they lost to MS&T. 

Junior and sophomore middle blockers Audrey Metzger and Rylee Scott led the Eagles with eight kills each in the match. As a team, the Eagles went 35-131 for kills. 

The first set went neck and neck between the two teams, and SMSU pulled away right at the end. 

During the second set, the Eagles only had three kills but gave up eight points on hitting errors. 

The Eagles went on a 6-1 run at the start of the third match but then a Mustang timeout silenced the Eagles and SMSU returned with a 15-2 run. 

Junior blocker Samantha Zuber connected with two blocks, back to back, and ended the set for the Eagles. 

Defensively, the Eagles had a strong force in freshman defensive specialist Kilee Kimmel with 15 digs on the night and three service aces.

9/6/14 AU v. Wheeling Jesuit

L 11-25, 17-25, 16-25

Ashland’s final match of the tournament was against 15th ranked Wheeling Jesuit Cardinals and the same fate came upon the Eagles, losing three straight sets. 

Sophomore Casey Clark showed strong for the Eagles up at the net with seven kills and four blocks on the night. Out of 92 attempts, Ashland came out with 23 kills and 21 errors. Middle blocker Rylee Scott and setter Katie Seifert both led the game with 10 digs each. The Eagles and Cardinals had a difference of 20 in assists. 

The next match for the Eagles will be at Findlay against the Oilers on Friday Sept. 12. The game will start at 7:30pm.