A season of firsts for Ashland University's volleyball team will see another one on Saturday (Nov. 14) afternoon – a chance to play for a Great Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament championship.
 
Three days after winning a Great Midwest Tournament quarterfinal at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium for the first time, the Eagles won a Great Midwest Tournament semifinal at home for the first time, 3-2 (25-16, 23-25, 25-22, 21-25, 15-12) over Hillsdale on Friday (Nov. 13) night.
 
Ashland (23-5) will play host to Findlay (20-8) on Saturday at 1 p.m. – going for its first league tourney title since 2006 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
 
"I'm just so excited, and proud of this group," said Ashland head coach Alicia Wood, whose team now is 10-0 at home this season, "and the grind and the grit that they put in to tonight. To fight to get into the championship match, I couldn't be happier.
 
"Kudos to Hillsdale. They're a very strong team. If anyone was going to take us to five, I figured it might be them."
 
Hillsdale's season ends at 16-13.
 
After splitting the first two sets, the Eagles trailed 15-10 in the third set before rallying to take a 2-1 lead, then ultimately having to go the distance against the Chargers.
 
Junior outside hitter Samantha Young paced AU with 22 kills, hit .295 and added 13 digs.
 
"This year has just been so special," Young said. "This team is just so special. I always fall back on my teammates, because they always trust me to know what I can do."
 
Said Wood, "She has really worked on building her explosiveness up, and she's extremely coachable."
 
Senior setters Kylee Urban (36) and Marin Dixon (20) teamed up for 56 of Ashland's 65 assists, junior outside hitter Sara Krizsa added 11 kills, senior libero Abbey Queen led the defense with 26 digs, and sophomore defensive specialist Sydney Weickert dug out 17 Hillsdale kill attempts.
 
Friday night's match featured 26 tie scores and 16 lead changes, including 10 tie scores and nine lead changes in the third set alone.
 
As for the championship match on Saturday afternoon, Young and the Eagles are hoping for a similar raucous crowd to what they got on Friday night.
 
"I tune out the crowd, but I also love that they hype us up," said Young. "As long as we're ourselves, I want the crowd to be as hype as possible. This is history in the making for us.
 
"It would be amazing to do this for Ashland."