Last Friday, Kates Gymnasium saw two very quality teams play four sets of very competitive volleyball. The GLIAC North power, the Northwood Timberwolves, came to Ashland and delivered a thrilling four-set victory over the Eagles. The following day, Lake Superior State came to AU but the Eagles made easy work of the Lakers in straight sets. More recently, Lake Erie stormed their way to Ashland but got dismantled in three sets.

Northwood

With these two teams playing as well as they had been, it was no surprise that this match was not going to be over in three sets. The Eagles dropped the first two sets, 25-21, 25-22, but stayed alive by winning the third set, 26-28, before finally falling in the fourth and final set, 25-17.

Ashland led both the first and second sets by two points before Northwood called a timeout and went on a 9-0 run to win the first set and a 7-0 run to take the second. Neither team got more than two points ahead in the third set. The combination of Brittany Snyder, Anesia Benton and Kate Eckels was too much for Northwood to contain. I’m not sure what was worse for defensive specialist Arian Martin: digging out spikes or high-fiving Benton after she got a kill. The thrilling third set came to a close when Snyder finally found space on her 12th kill after a long volley.

In the end, Northwood proved to be too much for AU to handle as the Timberwolves delivered Ashland their first home loss this season. Northwood changed up their game plan and chose to try a series of quick short sets that caught the Ashland defenders off-guard.

Benton led Ashland with 13 kills in 24 attacks with only three errors.

Lake Superior

After Northwood got the best of AU Friday, Ashland rebounded and took care of business against the Lakers (6-15, 2-12 GLIAC). After falling behind early in the first set, AU put together a 13-5 run, taking a 16-9 lead and the eventual 25-15 first set victory. Once again in the second set, Lake Superior jumped out to an early lead but this time did not allow AU to put together another long run. Lake Superior hung with Ashland until the Eagles’ Baley Bernthisel shut the door with her third and most important kill of the afternoon.

The third set was over early when AU took a 10-5 lead and then stretched their lead to 20-10 before finally winning 25-13. Ashland’s hitting percentage was .314 in the third set while holding their opponent to a hitting percentage of only .139. Saginaw’s highest hitting percentage, .182, came in the opening set but so did Ashland’s of .533.

For the match, Benton, who is leading the GLIAC in hitting percentage, was 12-for-18 with three errors and a .500 hitting percentage. Snider added 10 kills and six digs.

Martin led AU with 14 digs while Lauren Schweitzer paced the Eagles with a match-high 36 assists. Sophie Paddock added five assisted blocks.

Lake Erie

Lake Erie brought the storm with them from Northeastern Ohio but Ashland overcame, defeating the Storm 25-17, 25-5 and 25-19. The loss dropped Lake Erie to 4-21, 1-13 GLIAC, and improved the Eagles to 15-8, 8-6 GLIAC.

Ashland earned a season-high 12 aces while holding Lake Erie to a personal best hitting percentage for any AU opponent of .026.

For the match, Snyder had two less kills than the entire Storm team. Snyder had a match-high 16 kills compared to Lake Erie’s 18 total kills.

The first set opened with AU scoring seven straight points followed by Lake Erie putting up five of their own. From that point on, Lake Erie simply couldn’t keep up with Ashland offense.

The second set could be labeled as a beat down. Lake Erie took their only lead, scoring the first point of the match. The Storm then proceeded to score only four more times, which were spread out throughout the set. At one point, Ashland rattled off 10 consecutive points.

The third set was tied 10-10, but five straight AU points kept the momentum on Ashland’s side and secured the straight set victory over the GLIAC South’s last-place team.

Sophomore Crystal Elliott contributed a match-high 21 assists, many of which went to middle hitter Paddock, who went a perfect 9-for-9.

With three home games left, all of which are this week, AU is looking to finish the season strong. Wayne State is first to visit AU Thursday, Findlay will follow Friday and Hillsdale will test their luck Saturday. Wayne State and Findlay are 7 p.m. starts while Hillsdale is a 1 p.m. scheduled start.