ASHLAND – You can simply inform what opening Ohio Cardinal Convention play with a win meant to Ashland on Tuesday evening.
Not solely was a step in the fitting path for the Arrows’ aim this season — a league championship — nevertheless it got here towards rival Wooster, a staff that has dominated the OCC for the final 5 years.
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It was Ashland’s first win over the Generals since Oct. 8, 2020 and the primary time Wooster has been swept in league play since Aug. 28, 2018. The staff that final did that? The Ashland Arrows.
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Ashland’s Rylan McFrederick ideas a ball over the Wooster block of Izzy Babcock (10) and Jillian McCloud (15). The Arrows swept the Generals to open Ohio Cardinal Convention play at Ashland Excessive Faculty on August 25, 2026.
“Pre-Sara Snowbarger period for certain,” Ashland coach Jenise Vaughn stated. “We have been actually engaged on popping out robust proper out of the gates, and I used to be actually impressed with how Wooster performed in set one. We have nonetheless received a bit little bit of early season jitters you can see, however I used to be actually happy with how we locked in set two and set three.
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“I feel that may be very indicative of what Ashland goes to appear to be this season.”
The opening set appeared each bit like among the traditional Ashland-Wooster clashes with the groups buying and selling factors all the best way to 20-20 earlier than the Arrows reeled off three unanswered and closed out 25-22. It was the primary set Ashland took from Wooster because the aforementioned match in 2020, the Generals swept every of the final 10 conferences.
“Considered one of our targets is to be very aggressive, each with our serves and our swings,” Vaughn stated. “And I believed we did an incredible job of placing the stress on Wooster on the service line. But additionally once we had been in system, our hitters had been placing the ball away effectively.”
Ashland’s Makenna Chandler serves towards Wooster. The Arrows swept the Generals to open Ohio Cardinal Convention play at Ashland Excessive Faculty on August 25, 2026.
It was the recent hand of Makenna Chandler, that includes three consecutive aces, that opened up a 5-0 lead for Ashland within the second set and it was stretched to 8-1 earlier than Wooster coach Molly Sipos known as a timeout. It did not do a lot because the Arrows pushed the benefit to a dozen at 17-5 resulting in her closing timeout of the set. Ashland had match level at 24-11 however a 4-0 run by Wooster staved off the ultimate level till a serving error gifted the Arrows a 2-0 lead within the match with a 25-15 win.
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“What I like most is that we are able to unfold the offense on any given evening,” Vaughn stated. “We may give the ball to Sadie (Walter), Rylan (McFrederick), Mckenna Oslie — they’re all deadly attackers — and I used to be impressed with how Arienne Vaughn had some good, aggressive assaults as our setter.
“However I’ve to provide lots of credit score to our again row and first contact, Makenna Chandler performed wonderful tonight and that received us in system so we might get the ball to our hitters.”
McFrederick’s medical serving then powered Ashland to a 9-1 lead, and the Arrows by no means appeared again finishing the sweep with a press release 25-10 win within the third.
“We simply fell aside on serve-receive and protection, then it form of escalated from there,” Sipos stated of her staff after the primary set.
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It is her first fall on the helm of her alma mater — the place her athletic profession earned her a spot within the Wooster Excessive Faculty Corridor of Fame —following the departure of Jennifer Snowbarger on the conclusion of her twenty fourth season.
Wooster’s Jillian McCloud smashes a ball by way of the block of Ashland’s Sadie Walter (11) and Rylan McFrederick (12). The Arrows swept the Generals to open Ohio Cardinal Convention play at Ashland Excessive Faculty on August 25, 2026.
“We’re simply nonetheless piecing collectively a brand new staff,” Sipos stated. “We have got among the identical women from final 12 months, however they’re in numerous spots. After which now we have lots of people which are new to the varsity courtroom, so we’re making an attempt to determine who goes the place and put the puzzle collectively.
“It is a problem, however the women have been versatile and we’re nonetheless working. It is a early, that is our first OCC sport, so we’ll determine it out.”
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Together with Chandler’s trio of aces, Oslie had three and McFrederick had two; that is not even bearing in mind all of the serves that instantly put Wooster out of system. Oslie and McFrederick additionally added 12 kills apieces, Chandler had 10 digs, Arienne Vaughn 26 assists, and Walter six kills.
“We’re taking it one match at a time, however our aim is to win the convention and we speak about that quite a bit,” coach Vaughn stated. “We talked about how this was an necessary match to begin off our season as a result of Wooster is a powerful opponent and we have struggled with them the previous few years.
“However I am actually happy with how our women confirmed up tonight, it is a good begin to our OCC season.”
zholden@gannett.com | 419-617-6018 | Twitter/X: @Zachary_Holden
This text initially appeared on Mansfield Information Journal: Ashland volleyball opens OCC with first win over Wooster since 2020
