After playing its first eight games of the season in weekend tournaments, the Ashland volleyball team began its Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season schedule this past weekend.

The Eagles hosted the Findlay Oilers and the Wayne State Warriors at Kates Gymnasium on Sept. 20 and 21. Ashland began the weekend with a 6-2 overall record.

Findlay 25-18, 25-18, 25-16

AU began its conference season with a three-set victory against Findlay on Friday.

The Eagles’ dominant performance was largely due to a balanced offensive attack, something that head coach Cass Dixon had stressed in the team’s week of practice.

“We talked about getting our middle involved in the offense,” Dixon said. “We have been very outside heavy, which our outside has done a fantastic job, but we need to be able to have a balanced offense so we can keep other teams on their toes.”

Ashland’s middle blockers did just that against the Oilers, as junior Maureen Johnson and sophomore Sam Zuber combined for 16 of AU’s 48 kills in the match.

In regards to offensive balance, five different Eagles had at least six kills in the match. Senior outside hitter Kate Eckels led all players in the match with 13 kills.

Mackenzie Vorst was Findlay’s (7-3, 0-1) top scorer with eight kills.

AU won the first two sets without much resistance, but early in the third set Findlay provided some resistance as they made a six-point run to tie the score up at 14, causing Dixon to call timeout.

“We just went back to the basics,” she said. “We talked all night about controlling the first ball and maintaining discipline throughout the play and being able to outlast them.”

The Eagles finished the match by winning 11 of the next 13 points.

“I think they played very relaxed, but very much in control from start to finish,” Dixon said.

Wayne State 21-25, 10-25, 25-19, 25-22, 10-15

Saturday’s match against Wayne State was a lot more interesting for Ashland. 

After dropping the first two sets, AU fought back to win the next two sets, and then dropped the final set to the Warriors, losing the match 3-2.

The Eagles struggled mightily early in the match offensively. Nine attacking errors in the first set and eight in the second put AU behind right away.

Ashland would be a completely different team in the next two sets.

Zuber and sophomore Shelly DeHenning both had kills in a nine-point rally to put AU ahead 11-6 in the third set.

That spark would carry over to the fourth-set win for the Eagles. Zuber put away the last point off an assist from DeHenning to force the shortened fifth set.

AU and Wayne State were tied 10-10 in the last set, and that’s when the Warriors took over. They would take the final five points all in a row to win the set 15-10 and the match.

“That was a great effort,” Dixon said. “To come back and force them to five and be tied at 10-10; it was anybody’s game at that point.”

Wayne State (5-5, 2-0) got a big performance from Kristin Bulkiewicz, who had a double-double with 23 kills and 20 digs.

Ashland had three players with double-digit kills. Freshman Alli Cudworth led the team with 14 kills. DeHenning had 44 assists and 11 digs.

While the comeback fell short for AU, Dixon is confident her team can bounce back. 

“There’s a lot of things for us to work on, but we’re young,” Dixon said. “We came back down two sets. With a little more experience, we will pull that out.”

Ashland will be on the road this weekend to take on Michigan Tech on Friday and Northern Michigan on Saturday.