The volleyball team had been facing a tough time these past couple of weeks, with a six game losing streak after a hot start to the season. With the team still on the road this past weekend, they were looking to get back on track and snap the losing streak. The Eagles traveled to Lake Superior State University as well as Northwood, hoping to come away with wins.

Lake Superior State University

The Eagles came in with the six losses hanging over the team, and the need for a win over a team that they should be able to beat. LSSU (6-14, 3-9 GLIAC) hosted the Eagles, but wasn’t prepared for what was to come in the game.

Ashland came out explosively and took it to the Lakers early on, winning the first two sets before dropping a close third, but finished them off before anything could get out of hand in the fourth set. The final score line was 25-17, 25-12, 23-25, 25-22 in favor of the Eagles to get their first win in three weeks.

The first set was very close midway through, with the Eagles only up by one, 15-14 before going on a 10-3 run to close out the set.

The second set also started off very tight, having it been tied 7-7. On the tying Eagles point, a 9-0 run started that was stopped on a service error, but was quickly followed with another five point spurt for the Eagles. At that point, the Eagles were already in control of the match and just finished it off to win the set 25-12.

The third set between the two teams was much closer, with the Lakers finally cooling down the AU offensive attack. The Eagles only hit .159 for the match, but still managed a way to lead 23-21 late in the set. They lost it, however, when the Lakers scored four straight points to swipe it from Ashland.

The Eagles led the entire fourth set after going up 4-2 on a four point run, and never looked back from there. Their lead was as big as five at one point, when they led the Lakers 12-7. Although the Eagles were in charge of the set, LSSU was always within reach until finally Anesia Benton ended the match with the final kill.

The Lakers were held to a .128 hitting percentage by Ashland, which was the lowest an opponent has hit since Grand Valley State back on October 7.

Freshman Kathy Fletcher led the team in kills with 16 with a .227 hitting percentage. Senior Anesia Benton also tallied up 13 kills on a .667 hitting percentage with only one error. Sophomore Megan Rohlfs set her career high in digs once again with 16 in the game; she now has 28 digs in the last two games. Senior Arian Martin led the team in digs though with 21. Junior setter Crystal Elliott had 41 assists to lead the team and added six digs of her own.

Northwood

The Eagles came back from being down eight in the third set against the Timberwolves to win the third set, and seemed to have the momentum going into a potential game winning set. The team couldn’t convert though, as the Wolves came back and shut down any hope, leading the entire fourth and fifth sets to take down the Eagles and send them back to a .500 record. The Wolves beat the Eagles in a full length game by the final scores of 19-25, 25-21, 24-26, 25-21, 15-12.

Through the first set the Eagles came out feeling good as they never trailed through the set. The team held the Timberwolves to a .154 hitting percentage as well taking the set.

The second set was much closer though as the score was tied at one point 17-17 but the Wolves opened it up with an 8-4 run to win the set and knot things up with a set apiece for both squads.

The third set looked to be out of the Eagles’ reach when they were down 21-13 to Northwood. That is, until the team went on a six point spurt to bring them closer. After a small delay, the Eagles scored again to get closer, with the score being 22-20. The Eagles once again went on scoring burst, with four more points before finally closing it out with a kill to take the set.

The momentum proved to be equal though, as the fourth set was a tossup between the two teams. It was tied late too, 17-17 again, before the Wolves once again outscoring the Eagles 8-4 to win the set and take it to a fifth to decide the winner.

The Wolves jumped out a quick four point lead in the fifth set and took it from there as the Eagles could never get back into it, and lost the set as well as the game.

Sophomore Baley Bernthisel set a career high in kills in the game with 17 and also led the team in blocks with six for the game. Anesia Benton added 12 kills while Freshman Alyx Crislip added eight kills of her own. Crystal Elliott set a season high in assists with 52 for the match. Arian Martin had 16 digs for the match with three aces.

The Eagles this past weekend finally snapped their losing streak but didn’t have a completely successful weekend. The team is still struggling to get back to their early season form, and with a three game weekend on the road coming up, the schedule is still tough on the team and won’t be letting up, as they play nationally ranked Hillsdale to open up the weekend. The rest of the weekend consists of matches against Wayne State and Findlay.