Ferris State Puts On Impressive Display To Beat Ashland In Battle Of Divisional Leaders

Postgame Interview & Highlights 

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University women's volleyball squad earned a big Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) home win on Friday (March 5), knocking off previously unbeaten Ashland by a 3-1 score in a battle of the league divisional leaders at the Ewigleben Sports Arena.

The Bulldogs started the weekend off against the Eagles with an impressive performance, rallying back after dropping the opening set to win the next three and secure the victory to move to 4-1 on the year. 

Ferris State fell to Ashland in the first frame 25-18, but came back to win the next three contests by scores of 25-21, 25-19 and 25-16 in dropping the Eagles to 4-1 overall as well. FSU entered the match midst a four-way tie atop the GLIAC North standings with a single loss while AU was the lone unbeaten team in the conference and leading the league's South Division standings.

Senior All-American Katie O'Connell led the Bulldogs with a big day of her own, totaling a match-high 24 kills and 26 digs in keying the FSU attack. She also notched her 1,000th career dig in the contest.

FSU middle hitter Kira Merkle added 12 kills with Samantha Hermann adding nine overall.

Freshman setter Kaylee Maat had 48 assists in the victory for FSU, which hit .224 for the day with 61 kills and only 12 attack errors on 201 total attempts. 

Bulldog libero Nina Gorgijevska totaled a contest-best 36 digs for the Bulldogs with Morgan Ross adding 25 in addition to the 26 from O'Connell. Maat had 14 digs and Brooke Norder contributed 11 digs overall.

The Bulldogs held Ashland to a .132 attack figure with the Eagles netting 54 kills and 26 attack errors on 212 total attempts. FSU also owned a 121-117 edge in total digs and the Bulldogs had eight blocks to only three for the guests. From the service line, FSU had four aces, including two from Maat, and eight service errors compared to AU's three aces and three errors at the service line.

Ashland was led by Brooke Peiffer, who had 13 kills. Both Heidi Fausze and Erin Krupar had 12 kills and Courtney Rosebrook notched 11 overall. Sophie Dahm paced Ashland with 31 digs and Katie Thompson came up with 27 digs.

The Bulldogs posted a higher attack percentage each frame, going from .116 in the first to .176 in the second following by .298 in the third and .326 in the final set to close out the match. Meanwhile, AU's figure dropped each set, from .205 in the opener down to .091 in the finale.

The two teams will square off again in the rematch on Saturday (March 6) with match time set for 3 p.m. (ET) at the Ewigleben Sports Arena.