The Ashland University volleyball team's return to the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament will begin on Wednesday (Nov. 18) at 7 p.m. at Grand Valley State.
This will be the Eagles' 12th appearance in the GLIAC Tournament, and their sixth in the last seven seasons.
Ashland comes into the GLIAC Tournament as the No. 5 seed and is 19-10 overall and 12-6 in the conference. The Lakers, the No. 4 seed, are 19-10, 13-5.
Wednesday's contest will be a rematch of the Oct. 10 meeting at Kates Gymnasium, when AU defeated GVSU, 3-1 (25-23, 14-25, 25-20, 25-14). It was Ashland's first win against Grand Valley State since Nov. 4, 2006, and the Lakers were ranked No. 21 in Division II at the time.
In that match, junior outside hitter Alli Cudworth led AU with 18 kills and 13 digs, while junior outside hitter Casey Clark added nine kills and 12 digs.
The Eagles are 12-8 in road/neutral-site matches in 2015, and the Lakers are 10-3 at home.
Cudworth finished the regular season pacing the GLIAC in kills (476), kills per set (4.14), service aces (62), points (569.5) and points per set (5.0). Junior setter Mallory Slyder is fourth in assists (1,089) and fifth in assists per set (9.81).
QUARTERFINALS – WEDNESDAY, NOV. 18
Hosted at higher seed campus, all matches at 7 p.m.
Match 1 - No. 1 Ferris State vs. No. 8 Michigan Tech
Match 2 - No. 4 Grand Valley State vs. No. 5 ASHLAND
Match 3 - No. 3 Hillsdale vs. No. 6 Saginaw Valley State
Match 4 - No. 2 Findlay vs. No. 7 Northern Michigan
SEMIFINALS – SATURDAY, NOV. 21
Hosted by highest remaining seed
Match 5 - Match 3 Winner vs. Match 4 Winner
Match 6 - Match 1 Winner vs. Match 2 Winner
CHAMPIONSHIP – SUNDAY, NOV. 22
Match 7 - Match 5 Winner vs. Match 6 Winner
AU
VB/DS