The Ashland University volleyball team went five sets against Northern Michigan and pulled out a 19-25, 25-17, 25-9, 23-25, 15-11 win in Marquette, Mich. on Friday (Oct. 11) night.
The Eagles (15-3, 7-1 GLIAC) improved to 3-0 in five-set matches on the season and are looking for one more win at Michigan Tech on Saturday to go into the Midwest Region Crossover with just one conference loss.
On Friday, the Eagles dropped the first set after coming up with just nine kills against 17 for the Wildcats (6-10, 3-5 GLIAC).
In the second set, the Eagles held the Wildcats to just nine kills and doubled them in that category with 18. Ashland hit .300 in Set 2.
The Eagles blew away the Wildcats in the third set by hitting .545 and not commiting a hitting error. Meanwhile, they limited NMU to minus-.094 hitting.
Ashland had an 18-16 lead in the fourth set after a kill by sophomore Erin Krupar, but the Wildcats went on a 4-0 run and never gave up the lead after that.
The Eagles never trailed in the fifth set as they scored the first three points with sophomore Sophie Dahn serving. Redshirt-junior Lexi Lombardo had two of the kills and Krupar had the third.
Lombardo and redshirt-junior Brooke Peiffer put up a block to get to set point, and after an NMU kill, Lombardo ended the match with a kill.
Peiffer (.225) and senior Sophi Cudworth (.256) led the Eagles with 15 kills each, while Krupar (.098) added 12.
Lombardo was efficient with nine kills (.421) on 19 swings with just one error against.
Peiffer, Krupar and sophomore setter Zoey Peck (51 assists, 10 digs) had double-doubles with junior McKinley Smith leading the back row with 23 digs.
Lizzy Stark led all players with 17 kills for the Wildcats.
The Eagles will play the Huskies on Saturday (Oct. 12) in Houghton at 4 p.m.
AU
VB/BB