Box Score After losing the first set, the Ashland University volleyball team rallied to win its fifth straight match, earning a 3-1 (25-27, 25-16, 26-24, 25-16) victory over Saginaw Valley, Saturday (Oct. 5) afternoon at Kates Gymnasium.
The Eagles move to 12-3, and 6-1 in the GLIAC. The Cardinals are 9-7 overall and 3-4 in conference play.
SVSU took the first set from Ashland, winning the back-and-forth battle, 27-25. The teams tied the score 10 times in set number one. The Cardinals held the Eagles to .075 hitting percentage, while they hit .140 in the opening set.
Saginaw took the lead in the second, going up 9-4 early on in the set. Ashland tied the score at 13-13 and controlled the tempo from there, allowing the Cardinals to score only three more points. Samantha Zuber and Alli Cudworth led the second set attack with five kills each. Freshman setter Katie Siefert had 13 assists in the second set.
Set number three was another hard-fought battle. The score was tied 18 times and had seven lead changes. Late in the set Cudworth scored on a pass from Shelly DeHenning to tie the set at 24-24. Zuber served an ace to go up one, and the set ended after a kill by Cudworth.
The Eagles came from behind again in the fourth set after being down early, 5-1. Cudworth scored to tie the set at 10-10 and the momentum was AU's the rest of the way. Ashland scored the next three points. SVSU cut the lead to just one, making the score 13-12 in favor of the Eagles. Ashland went on a quick 5-0 run to make the score 17-12. AU won eight of the next 11 points and finished the set 25-16.
Ashland's offense was led by Cudworth, who tallied 19 kills and 23 digs. Zuber recorded 12 kills on 27 attempts hitting .370 over the four-set match. Siefert had a match-high 25 assists, while DeHenning had 23. The Eagles had an impressive 16 blocks on the afternoon. Senior Maureen Johnson had two block solos and two block assists. Zuber recorded one block solo and four block assists.
As a team the Eagles had a combined 59 kills, 54 assists, seven aces, 78 digs, four block solos, and 16 block assists.
Kelsey Ferla led the Cardinals with 17 kills. Brooke Tiller had 24 digs.
Ashland returns to action Friday, Oct. 11 when it hosts Ferris State for a 7 p.m. contest.
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