LINK – ASHLAND UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS COMPOSITE SCHEDULE
For the third time in the last six seasons, Ashland University's women's basketball team will play in an NCAA Division II Elite Eight, starting Tuesday (March 21) night.
While the No. 1-ranked Eagle women are three wins away from the program's second national championship, Ashland's baseball, softball and women's golf team continue their 2017 campaigns, and the AU men's and women's outdoor track and field teams start their seasons in the Carolinas.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL (LINK) – Ashland (34-0) will continue the quest for a national title on Tuesday at 6 p.m. vs. West Texas A&M (26-8) in a national quarterfinal at Alumni Hall on the campus of Ohio Dominican University. A win would put the Eagles in a national semifinal on Wednesday (March 22) at 8:30 p.m. at ODU, and the D-II national championship game is Friday (March 24) at 7 p.m. in Columbus.
One of just three undefeated basketball teams at all levels of the NCAA, Ashland is seeking to become the first Division II women's team to finish a season at 37-0.
ONE TO WATCH: Junior forward/center Laina Snyder averages 16.8 points, 8.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.0 steals per game, while shooting 50.9 percent from the field and 79.5 percent from the free-throw line.
OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD (LINK) – The Eagle men and women will begin the 2017 outdoor season at both the Raleigh Relays and the Weems Baskin Invitational on Friday and Saturday (March 25). The meets begin a stretch of six weekends of action prior to the 2017 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships, May 3-5 at Grand Valley State.
ONE TO WATCH: Sophomore Myles Pringle won the D-II men's 400-meter dash national title (46.39 seconds) indoors, and was third in the country in the event outdoors (46.04) as a freshman.
BASEBALL (LINK) – Ashland (7-10 overall, 1-1 GLIAC) dipped its collective toes into conference play on Sunday (March 19) at Findlay, but will have six league games this week – another doubleheader at the Oilers on Tuesday at 2 p.m., and a four-game home set vs. Hillsdale on Saturday and Sunday (March 26).
ONE TO WATCH: Freshman infielder Carson Mittermaier leads Ashland with four home runs and 14 RBIs, and is hitting .294.
SOFTBALL (LINK) – The Eagles (7-10) will play six home games over four days, four of those being GLIAC contests. Ashland will take on Notre Dame College on Thursday (March 23) at 3:30 p.m., then start conference play on Saturday at noon vs. Grand Valley State and Sunday at noon against Ferris State.
ONE TO WATCH: Junior pitcher Paige McMenemy is 3-3 with a save and a 1.96 earned-run average in 53 2/3 innings in her first season in the program.
WOMEN'S GOLF (LINK) - Coming off a second-place finish at the Saginaw Valley State Spring Invitational, Ashland will play at the two-day Perry Park Spring Fling on Friday and Saturday to end the month of March.
ONE TO WATCH: In her first four collegiate rounds, redshirt freshman Krystal Hu has turned in scores of 84, 75, 79 and 80.
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