The volleyball team has now played more than a week’s worth of games, and has started the season well. They still have room for improvement, however. The Eagles went 2-2 at the UIndy Invitational Sept. 2 and 3 to start the season. This past weekend, the Eagles went 2-1 to start their league play in the GLIAC.

UIndy Invitational

Ashland opened up the season against the No. 19 ranked team in the country in West Florida University. The Eagles won the match in five sets, 3-2 (25-23, 18-25, 21-25, 25-23, 15-10) to give new head coach Cass Dixon her first win. Senior libero Arian Martin picked up 23 more digs to move her into third place on AU’s all-time list with 1,365.

In the first set, the Eagles took an early 4-0 lead on their way to the 25-23 win, never trailing. They dropped the second set after getting only four kills total. Then, in the third set, the Eagles couldn’t keep pace in hitting percentages, being outhit .207 to .303.

While the game looked to be all but done in the fourth set, down 16-8, the Eagles, led by senior Anesia Benton, went on a 14-6 run to tie the set 22-22. The set ended on a kill by junior Crystal Elliott. The Eagles then took the fifth set, closing out the match on a 6-1 run. Benton led the team in kills with 11 and hit .350 for the game, followed by freshman Alyx Crislip who had nine kills on a .292 hitting percentage.

The Eagles played another game later in the day against the Florida Tech Panthers. Unlike the five set game earlier that day, the Eagles took this game in a three set sweep, winning 25-14, 25-20, 25-22.

The team held the Panthers to a negative .020 hitting percentage on 23 kills, 25 errors and 99 hits, which was the lowest hitting percentage an AU opponent has produced since 2009. Junior setter Crystal Elliott recorded her ninth double-double in her career with 24 assists and 10 digs. Junior Brittany Snider led the team in kills with 10 kills and eight digs. Sophomore Kate Eckels had the match high in aces with three and seven digs. Senior Arian Martin added 13 digs in the match to add to her career total to 1,378.

In their third match of the season, the team suffered its first loss of the season. The team lost in straight sets, 25-22, 25-22, 25-16, on Sept. 3. A day after containing Florida Tech to a negative hitting percentage, the Northern Kentucky team hit .337 against the Eagles to take down the Eagles.

Freshman Alyx Crislip had eight kills in 18 attacks with a single error to post a .389 hitting percentage. Freshman Kathy Fletcher went 6-11 on attack for the team. Setter Crystal Elliott had 24 assists for the game as well as four digs. Libero Arian Martin had a team-high nine digs.

Later that day, the Eagles had another game against the Missouri S&T Miners. The team lost in four sets (25-23, 23-25, 24-26, 21-25) after splitting the first two sets. After winning both of their first two games at the UIndy Invitational, the Eagles dropped their last two to finish the invitational 2-2.

Senior Anesia Benton led the team in hitting going 12-25 to post a .480 hitting percentage. Setter Crystal Elliott accrued another double-double raising her career total to 10, with a 32 assists and 10 dig output. Libero Arian Martin picked up another 19 digs to lead the team as well as six assists.

Wayne State

The team opened conference play the following weekend, winning their first conference game against Wayne State. The team won in four sets, 25-21, 25-19, 25-27, 25-23, in front of the home crowd. Freshman Kathy Fletcher and junior Brittany Snider played well together for the team, combining for 13 kills in 26 attacks with zero errors in just the first set leading the team to a .359 hitting percentage.

Snider ended the night with 18 kills on 48 attacks with only four errors and also had 12 digs. Setter Crystal Elliott posted 48 assists and nine digs, almost getting another double-double. Libero Arian Martin also recorded another 15 digs to bring her career total to 1,421 digs. Anesia Benton finished the game with 10 kills and freshman Alyx Crislip had eight kills.

Findlay

The following day, the Eagles hosted Findlay taking them to five sets (31-29, 25-23, 22-25, 22-25, 15-9) and prevailed to keep their unbeaten record in GLIAC play.

Offensively, junior Brittany Snider and sophomore Susie Jonas led the team with 13 and 12 kills respectively for the game. Junior Crystal Elliott once again had a double-double, this time with a season-high 50 assists and 10 digs. Libero Arian Martin produced 20 more digs in the match. Sophomore Marci Zegarac also posted six kills on 18 attacks.

No. 11 Hillsdale

In the last game of the weekend, the Eagles took on No. 11 ranked Hillsdale in their third game in three days. With the two previous games going to five and four sets, you can imagine the Eagles were a little tired.

The Chargers beat AU in straight sets 26-24, 25-10, 25-16. Freshman Susie Jonas led the team in kills with nine on 19 attacks with only two errors. Senior Libero Arian Martin also moved up into second place on the AU all-time digs list, recording another 16 to bring her career total to 1,457. Setter Crystal Elliott had 28 assists and three kills.

The volleyball team hopes to rebound in their next game at home in Kates Gymnasium 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16 at against Northern Michigan.