The Ashland University volleyball team lost in four sets, 25-15, 16-25, 25-20, 25-10, on Saturday (Nov. 9) night at host Wayne State in Detroit.
Despite the defeat, the Eagles clinched the GLIAC South for the second straight season and will play at home in the GLIAC Tournament quarterfinal on Nov. 20.
The Eagles (22-6, 11-3 GLIAC) put together a really solid effort in the second set, but otherwise struggled offensively, hitting below .100 in the other three sets.
After dropping Set 1, Ashland hit at a blistering .500 clip in Set 2 with 16 kills against just one error on 30 swings.
The Eagles started the third set by winning the first five points, including two kills by redshirt-freshman Chelsey Farris.
The Warriors (14-11, 7-7 GLIAC) got back in the set quickly, tying it at 7 on back-to-back blocks by Kamryn Duffield. Wayne State led, 19-16, before kills by redshirt-junior Lexi Lombardo and sophomore Zoey Peck brought the Eagles within one. The Warriors scored the next three points, though, to take a commanding 22-18 lead they would not relinquish.
In the fourth, Wayne State scored the 12 of the first 14 points to take control and did not look back.
Lombardo led the Eagles with 14 kills (.483) on 29 attacks without a hitting error. Senior Sophi Cudworth finished with eight kills (.100) and redshirt-junior Brooke Peiffer and sophomore Erin Krupar had seven kills each.
Junior libero McKinley Smith led the Eagles with 21 digs while Peiffer added 12 and sophomore Sophie Dahn had 10. Peck finished with 40 assists and six digs.
Taylor Wagner led a balanced Wayne State attack with 14 kills as four Warriors finished with double figure kill totals.
The Eagles will look to get back on track on Friday (Nov. 15) at 7 p.m. when they return to Kates Gymnasium to take on Grand Valley State.
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