Eagles Win, Ping Ties Program Record At ‘Wolves

Eagles Win, Ping Ties Program Record At ‘Wolves

LINK - ASHLAND UNIVERSITY VOLLEYBALL PAGE

Starting a stretch of nine consecutive road/neutral-site matches to start the month of October, Ashland University's volleyball team topped Northwood away from home on Friday (Oct. 5) night, 3-0 (25-18, 25-11, 25-22).

The Eagles maintain their three-match lead in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference South Division at 16-3 overall and 9-1 in the league, and are off to their best 19-match start since the 2007 team also began at 16-3. The Timberwolves are 6-12, 3-7.

Ashland, which entered Friday night's match ranked in a tie for 35th in NCAA Division II in opponents' hitting percentage (.134), did nothing to hurt that status against Northwood. The Eagles kept the Timberwolves to a .016 percentage, and leading the way for the AU defense was junior middle hitter Michaela Ping, who tied a program record for block assists in a single match with 10. Shawndra Thompson originally set the record in 2002, and Natalie Kapteyn first tied it three years later.

Also turning in key defensive showings for Ashland on Friday were junior middle blocker Sophi Cudworth (eight block assists) and senior libero Kaitlin Bean (team-high 17 digs).

Offensively, the Eagles ended the night with a team hitting percentage of .273, paced by junior outside hitter Shelby Woycik, who hit .611 and finished with a team-high 11 kills. Freshman setter Zoey Peck set up the AU hitters with 35 assists.

Ashland will finish the weekend on Saturday (Oct. 6) at 3 p.m. at No. 6-ranked Ferris State (15-3, 10-0), in a matchup of the GLIAC's two current division leaders.

 

 

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