Ashland University women’s volleyball were on top of the GLIAC South Division for most of the season. It was only fitting that they finished on top to end the year.

AU wrapped up its regular season with two more wins on the road and extended its winning streak to nine-straight over the past weekend. 

The nine-game win streak is AU’s longest of the season. During the streak, the Eagles have dropped just five total sets out of 31. Freshman outside hitter Alli Cudworth and sophomore setter Shelly DeHenning both earned GLIAC South Player of the Week honors during the streak. The award was Cudworth’s third of the season and DeHenning’s first.

The winning streak seems to be coming at the right time of season for the Eagles with the GLIAC playoffs to begin in a few days. The Eagles have lost just three times to GLIAC opponents this season. AU’s regular season record finished at 23-6, 16-3 in the GLIAC. 

 

Friday November 15^th @ Wayne State 27-25, 21-25, 25-15, 25-23

Ashland began the weekend with a win, taking three of four sets from Wayne State. The win came largely in thanks to the dominating performances by AU’s freshmen outside hitters Alli Cudworth and Casey Clark. 

Cudworth led all players in the match with 26 kills and 28 points. Clark added another 15 kills. 

AU was forced to play a little extra as the Warriors (10-18, 7-10) led 24-23 and were one point away from winning the first set. Clark and Baley Bernthisel came up with four kills in the next five points to aid in the comeback victory in the set. 

After Wayne State came back to win the second set, the Eagles won the third set handily before taking the match in the fourth set. Ashland had a team hitting percentage of .306 for the match, which is higher than their season percentage of .224.

Wayne State was led by Kristen Bulkiewicz who had 17 kills. 

Saturday November 16^th @ Findlay 25-21, 25-15, 25-18

Ashland wrapped up its regular season with an impressive 3-0 sweep on the road at Findlay. 

AU had a great defensive effort against the GLIAC playoff bound Oilers (20-11, 11-7), holding them to a .137 team hitting percentage in the match. Marci Zegarac led the Eagles with 13 digs and Shelly DeHenning added six digs and 28 assists.

Alli Cudworth was the only Ashland player with double-digit kills (12). Sam Zuber added nine more kills. 

The Eagles were particularly strong late in the first two sets, earning two and three points runs and only allowing one in return on several occasions.

An early eight-point run in the third set put AU up 9-1. Another run later in the set put the Eagles up 22-9 and they would not look back from there. 

Findlay’s Hannah Tong had a team-high 10 kills and Amanda Calhoun had 21 assists. Findlay will be the sixth seed in the upcoming GLIAC playoffs and will begin their playoffs at third-seeded Northern Michigan.

Ashland entered the GLIAC playoffs as the second overall seed behind Grand Valley State (26-3, 17-1). Ashland hosted the seventh-seeded Hillsdale Chargers in the GLIAC quarterfinals at Kate’s Gymnasium on Wednesday night.