ELIZABETH BUCHEIT

volume 91, issue 16APRIL 4, 2013

National player of the year

KARI DAUGHERTY

NCAA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTSan Antonio, Texas — St. Mary’s University

ASHLAND UNIVERSITY 71DOWLING COLLEGE 56

GLORIOUSWomen’s basketball makes history, bringing

AU its ! rst team national championship

FULL CHAMPIONSHIP COVERAGE >>

The Collegian has coverage from all of the Elite Eight games, including a recap from the championship and stories from San Antonio.

see page 4

sports Thursday, 15 November 2012 // The Collegian4

BUSTER MEANEY @BusterMeaney At the beginning of the year,

the idea of a perfect season for the Ashland University football program may have been almost unthinkable by students and fac-ulty here at Ashland.

But after this week’s fixture against Notre Dame College with the Eagles crushing the Falcons 65-0, the Eagles completed their first undefeated season since 1972 and the fourth in school history.

The game against the Falcons also marked senior day at Jack Miller Stadium, as 14 Eagles were proudly honored in front of

supporting friends and family for their years of service to the pro-gram. They walked away with an amazing last regular season win.

The Eagles were flying high in the first half, heading into the locker room with a 48-0 lead. They seemed to be able to do whatever they wanted on offense.

Senior quarterback Taylor Housewright finished the game with 192 yards and three touch-downs on 16 of 23 passing.

“I got a lot of great guys around me,” he said. “We’ve got a great defense, great skill, great offensive line.”

The first touchdown of the game was credit to defensive back Jake Lerman, who picked

off a pass by Notre Dame quar-terback Ray Russ.

Within six plays from the Eagles Anthony Taylor had brought home the first six points for Ashland. Cameron Casey kicked the extra point to make it 7-0.

After the first touchdown, the outcome of the game already looked predictable due to Notre Dame’s inexperienced defense.

Shortly after the first touch-down, the Eagles scored again with an eight-play drive to take the Eagles to a strong 14-0 lead.

After the first quarter the Eagle’s offense had proved that the Falcons defense was in for a rough day on Fred Martinelli

field, leading 21-0. “They are young and strug-

gling defensively,” head coach Lee Owens said. “It’s tough enough when you’re a better team that is having success to slow down our offense, let alone with an inexperienced defense.”

Running backs Antony Taylor and Jordan McCune helped run the Eagles to victory, gaining 255 yards between the two of them.

McCune led the Eagles in rushing yards with 178, averag-ing 14.8 yards a play, and Taylor scored a game-high four touch-downs, rushing for 77 yards on 16 carries.

“The play calls were right for the situations and we were able

to execute it today,” Taylor said. “It’s all about execution on our part.”

The Falcons could not keep up with the powerhouse that is Ashland’s offense; the Eagles fin-ished with 422 yards of total offense with only one play that resulted in a loss of yards.

Ashland now heads to the NCAA Division II play-offs after its first-ever Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship.

“Its defnitely an advantage to get a week off and then get to play at home… we should have a lot of support from fans like we have all year,” said junior linebacker Cody Bloom, who

reached 100 tackles for the sec-ond season in a row.

The Eagles will play the win-ner of Saturday’s game between Chadron State and West Texas A&M.

The game will be held at 11 a.m. on Nov. 24 at Jack Miller Stadium due to the fact that the women’s basketball team is scheduled to host the Ashland Holiday Inn Classic starting at 3 p.m.

Tickets are $5 for students and seniors 65 years or older, $10 for adults and $15 for reserved seating. Tickets can be purchased on the second floor of the Troop Center or by calling 419-207-6163.

Ashland University, 65 vs Notre Dame College, 0Jack Miller Stadium

Undefeated Eagles fly towards the NCAA tournament

AU earns revenge against the WarriorsRICHARD QUICK &KEVIN STOICOVY

@AUCollegian

Wayne StateThe AU women’s volleyball

team had nothing but earning victory on their minds going into their second to last match of the season on Friday night.

The Eagles cruised their way to a 3-1 win over the Wayne State Warriors (16-12, 10-7) (Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) at Kate’s Gymnasium on senior night.

The win gave Ashland its 22nd victory of the season and it also offered the Eagles a little taste of revenge.

Ashland was swept by the Warriors three sets to none Sept. 17 at Wayne State. AU head coach Cass Dixon said that the focus on this matchup was more geared towards getting a win rather than revenge.

“It’s always great to get a win regardless of what we did before,” she said. “A win is a win and that puts us one step closer to our goal.”

The Eagles got off to a fast start early in the match, taking the first set 25-18 over the Warriors.

Much of the credit for the early lead was because of the play of junior outside hitter Kate Eckels. Eckels had 7 of her team-leading 19 kills in the first set.

The Eagles continued their momentum into the second set, accumulating a 22-17 lead. It looked like they were going to go up two sets to none, but the Warriors came storming back to win the second set 26-24.

“We got a little tight in the second set,” Dixon said. “We said just go back to what was working.”

The Eagles did just that in the third set. They came back to win the set 25-19 after being down 3-6 early. From there, AU didn’t look back, winning the fourth and final set 25-20.

“We stuck to our gameplan,” Dixon said. “That was the key for tonight was to beat them on defense and be relentless in our pursuit of everything.”

The Eagles’ defense definitely stood out in the match as they out-dug the Warriors 61-48 in the four-set match. Megan Rohlfs led the Eagles with 22 digs.

On senior night, Ashland’s two seniors had solid performances to vault the Eagles to the win. Outside hitter Brittany Snider was second on the team in kills (13) and digs (11). She also led the team in blocks with four. Setter Crystal Elliot tallied 42 assists for the Eagles.

Junior Baley Bernthisel led the Warriors with 12 kills and blocks. Findlay

Inconsistency throughout the match with serving and pass-ing served as the Achilles’ heel Saturday in the Eagles’ 3-2 loss to Findlay.

Despite the loss, the Eagles (22-7, 12-6) did have match-high stats for a number of players.

Senior outside hitter Brittany Snider finished with 26 kills, junior defensive specialist Megan Rohlfs had 29 digs on the night and senior setter Crystal Elliott dished out 51 assists.

For the Oilers (14-16, 10-8), Lindsy Reindel led the team with 15 kills, Danielle Taflinger led the Oilers with seven blocks and Becca Shoemaker finished the match with 18 digs.

During the match, the Eagles got off to a strong start decisively

taking the first set from the Oilers 25-17. Findlay then proceeded to win the next two heavily contested sets 25-23, 25-21.

But the turning point of the match came when the Eagles came from behind to win the fourth set 25-21.

The fifth set saw the Eagles take an early lead until the set was tied 7-7 and then from that point on the Eagles slid downward and lost the set and the match 15-8.

“Our inconsistencies caught up with us,” head coach Cass Dixon said. “There were bits and spurts that we played really, really well and then there were times where we did not execute that way we should have executed.”

The Eagles played Northern Michigan on Wednesday the first round of the GLIAC tournament

in a match that happened after press time.

Ashland was the fourth seed and Northern Michigan was the fifth seed.

Earlier in the regular season, Ashland defeated NMU 3-2.

“It’s going to be back to the basics for us,” Dixon said. “We can’t stop, we can’t give up and we have to keep moving forward.”

The Eagleshuddle during

Saturday’s match against Findlay.

The Eagles fell 3-2, but still earned a

home tournament game.

ASHLAND TIMES-GAZETTE PHOTO

RICHARD QUICK

Senior Crystal Elliott sets the ball in Saturday’s match against Findlay. Elliott leads the Eagles in assists with 1,081.

sports Thursday, 7 March 2013 // The Collegian4

RICHARD QUICK @RQuick44

Cynthia Watt is a quirky hybrid of a

freshman and a sophomore at Ashland

University, and she is on her way to earn-

next week in Birmingham, Ala.

traditional route that most throwers take to

get started in their sport. Instead of being

to doing the hurdles.

“All my [swimming] teammates were

Watt would not stay with the hurdles

for long due to a torn quad that made her

have to retire from her event. But due to

and saw girls throwing the hammer. From

throw was going to be her new event. As

Jud Logan hammer throwing DVD in her

took it home and would do hammer turns

she said.

night but it took a bit longer to get the rest

down.

hammer puzzle: throwing shoes. Her mom

to throw.

ing and after Cynthia broke down the bio-

shoes she needed. Had it not been for the

not be the thrower she is today.

Looking forward to the national meet

in Birmingham, Cynthia only has one goal

and that is getting to the podium and get-

all I want is to make it to the podium. I

ZACK LEMON @zack_lemon

indoor Nationals.

AU will send one of the largest

groups down—the largest group in

sion II Winter Championships Festi-

val in Birmingham, Ala.

16 individual athletes, many of whom

letes. Hopes are high for both teams.

athlete of the year Garrett Gray, and

200-meter run and the 400 as well as

the 4x400 relay.

Ashland has the number one seed

seeded in the top 10 in their events,

ond in the nation overall, but with

Logan. In addition to the top weight

throw and shot put marks, Ashland is

sending the 11th-ranked shot putter

ranked athlete in the weight throw

AU is looking to build off of its

with only seven athletes and are look-

the best national mark this year (14

tathlon and is fourth in the nation.

60-meter hurdles.

In order to repeat the high level of

of their athletes.

highly in the throws. Sophomore Jes-

in weight throw and 14th in shot put.

in the weight throw and freshman Ja-

mie Sindelar is fourth in shot put.

Sophomore Jennifer Foster is

both the men and women are poised

KATE LENTZ @katemay_lentz

Wrestling Super Region 2 tourna-

ment was held at Ashland Univer-

and 24. In the toughest super re-

After the dust settled, four

the NCAA Division II Winter

Championships Festival to be held

After going 11-6 in dual meets

lan knows the kind of squad he

has and is anxious for its potential

to be shown on the national level.

Going into the super regional

meet, there were four wrestlers

who had seen the national spot-

light before: seniors Adli Edwards

and Dan Genetin and sophomores

Joe Brandt and Bryson Hall.

Max Byrd were both nationally

sure from the tournament. Brandt was equally impressive.

“Joe Brandt wrestled a great,

Four other wrestlers were able

pete in wrestle-offs for spots at Al-

abama: Edwards, Genetin, Hall,

Sunday was a day of work for

Genetin. He had made the trip to

and there was no way he was go-

Genetin defeated Notre

iera is the same wrestler who beat

him two weeks ago in this same

ished third in the 12-team region

bama ranked No. 11.

Byrd won the regional title at

Nationals.

position – bottom, top or on his

In round one at Nationals,

Newberry, Labry will go against

Martin Ramirez of Adams State,

of Augustana. Genetin will begin

HALEE HEIRONIMUS

Ashland sophomore 174-pound wrestler Bryson Hall ties up his opponent at the NCAA Division II Super Regional held Feb. 23 and 24 at Kates Gymnasium. Hall fell short of qualifying for the NCAA Division II Winter Championships Festival, but four other Eagles made it. In all, 38 Ashland athletes will compete in wrestling, swimming and track and ! eld at the festival in Birmingham Ala., which began Tuesday and will ! nish Saturday.

Eagles send four to Nationals

From the pool to the podium Track eyeing glory in BirminghamFrom the pool to the podium Track eyeing glory in Birmingham

NCAA Division II National Championships FestivalBirmingham, Ala. — March 6-9