Box Score A short drive to Tiffin nearly turned into a long night for the AU volleyball team.
The Eagles ran into a determined opponent on Friday (Nov. 8) at Tiffin. The Dragons entered the match with two conference wins, but they gave the Eagles all they wanted. AU won, 3-2 and that victory gives the Eagles 20 wins for the season. The Eagles had to work hard for this one.
Ashland won 25-19, 24-26, 16-25, 26-24, 15-9. The win is AU's sixth straight. AU has won seven of its last eight matches and is 20-6, 12-3 in the GLIAC. The Eagles are ranked fifth in the region.
From the AU perspective, this win shows again that this team can handle the pressure of going on the road and winning. Of AU's 20 wins, 10 are at home and 10 are away from home. This was AU's third, 3-2 win this season.
After winning by six points in Friday's opening set, AU dropped the next two sets and was tied, 24-24 in the fourth set. A Casey Clark kill gave Ashland a one-point lead and Alli Cudworth followed with a kill that wrapped up the match.
The fifth set was tied, 3-3 when AU went on a 9-4 run to gain a 12-7 advantage. Clark and Cudworth had two kills apiece in that run. The Dragons (11-13/2-13) could never recover from that spurt.
Cudworth had 25 kills, eight aces and seven digs. Clark and Samantha Zuber had 10 kills each. Marci Zegarac had a team-high 24 digs and Shelly DeHenning had 52 assists.
Tiffin's Danielle McQuade posted a double-double with 18 kills and 12 digs. Jordan Jenkins had 46 digs.
Up next for Ashland is a trip to Ohio Dominican on Saturday (Nov. 9, 5 p.m.). AU has three regular season matches remaining. All are on the road.
AU
VB/ALK
