Coming down to the wire, the Ashland volleyball team played two GLIAC foes in a final push for playoff positioning. The Eagles first traveled to Ohio Dominican Nov. 5, where AU took care of the 7-19, 2-16 GLIAC Panthers, 28-26, 25-20, 25-23. The following day, Ashland finished the regular season with a straight set sweep to the 15-14, 11-8 GLIAC Tiffin Dragons, 25-23, 25-20, 25-22.

ODU

Down 13-6, Ashland put together a rally, tying the opening set at 17 apiece and eventually winning 28-26. The winning point came via ace, courtesy of freshman Susannah Jonas. Ashland had a hitting percentage of .262 compared to the Panthers’ .068. Ashland also committed six less hitting errors.

The second set was basically a swap of situations. The Eagles jumped out to the lead before ODU fought their way back to tie the score at 18 all. Unlike what happened in the first set, Ashland was then able to string together four straight points, sealing the eventual 25-20 second-set victory.

Ashland one-upped their first set kill number with 17 in the second set, earning their highest hitting percentage over the weekend, .279.

The third set was consistently close but AU snagged the lead late and didn’t give it up. Anesia Benton took a Crystal Elliott serve and ended ODU’s chances of a fourth set. The Eagles took the deciding set 25-23 and put themselves in a tie for sixth place in the GLIAC with Tiffin and Northwood.

Elliott had a match-high 50 assists while Benton finished with 16 kills, one behind Kate Eckels, who led both teams with 17.

Tiffin

The Eagles (17-12, 10-9 GLIAC) dropped an important match last Saturday as the Tiffin Dragons secured the sixth spot in the GLIAC standings. With the loss, AU settled in the final spot.

The first set was close until the 19-18 mark, which is when the Dragons fired off four straight points. Tiffin went on to win, 25-23. As a team, the Dragons hit .300 in the first set.

TU shot out to a 14-4 lead in the second set, which proved to be too much for AU to overcome as Ashland dropped their second consecutive set, 25-20.

Tiffin only gave up the lead briefly at 11-10 before regaining the lead and taking the third set, 25-22. Each set point came off of a different Dragon. Eckels ended up with 17 kills and hit .279 in the match with eight digs. Benton was the only other Eagle with double digit kills (11). For the match, AU hit .217 while Tiffin earned a hitting percentage of .294.

Volleyball is the eighth seed in the GLIAC Tournament and will play at top-seeded No. 9 Hillsdale Thursday at 7 p.m. The GLIAC semifinal will be Saturday and the GLIAC final will be Sunday with time and site TBA.