Volleyball Earns 3-2 Comeback Win Over Ashland

The Northwood University volleyball team earned a comeback 3-2 win over Ashland Friday night (October 19). Set scores 24-26, 20-25, 25-23, 26-24, 17-15.

Northwood is now 16-5 overall, 10-0 in the GLIAC – the lone unbeaten team in conference play. Ashland falls to 16-5 overall, 6-4 in the GLIAC.

Ashland came out strong early on, hitting .284 (28-9-67) while holding Northwood to a .167 clip (27-15-72). The Eagles scored the final two points of the first set to win 26-24 before AU earned a 25-20 victory in the second to go up 2-0.

Northwood began its comeback in the third set, jumping out to a big early lead before eventually earning a 25-23 win. The Timberwolves then hit .353 (14-2-34) in the fourth set to earn another close victory, 26-24, to force a deciding fifth set.

The fifth set went back and forth from the start. Ashland jumped out to a 6-3 lead, but Northwood responded by cutting the lead down to one at 9-8. The Eagles eventually had three match points (14-12, 14-13, 15-14), but Northwood saved all of those opportunities. Northwood then earned the win on their first match point on an attack error by Ashland.

The final stats of the match were extremely close. Both teams finished hitting .217 overall. Both teams had five aces as well. Ashland had four more kills than the Timberwolves (70-66) while Northwood had two more blocks (8-6).

Juliia Pakhomenko (Donetsk, Ukraine) led Northwood with 21 kills to go along with 12 digs and two aces. Zina Liubymova (Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine) added 17 kills and a team-high 22 digs. Tatjana Rajic (Belgrade, Serbia) added 10 kills and a .444 attack percentage.

Northwood travels to Lake Erie Saturday (October 20). Match time is set for 2 p.m.