CLINTON, Iowa - Back on the court for its third match in four days, the Ashford University volleyball team welcomed the #25-ranked Cougars of St. Xavier University to Kehl Arena on Thursday evening for a non-conference tilt. The Saints played well throughout the first three sets, but the difficult stretch of matches caught up to AU in set four as the Cougars took the match, 3-1.
Senior outside hitter Kendra King put down 10 kills for Ashford while Plano, Texas-native McKenzie Thompson tallied nine.
Ashford opened the contest very well as the home team scored ten kills while taking advantage of nine Cougar errors to force the set into extra points.
Trailing 22-16 late in the opening stanza, Ashford caught fire and went on a 9-3 run to tie the set at 25-all.
However, an AU service error followed by a St. Xavier kill ended the comeback chance as the Cougars pulled out the opener, 27-25.
St. Xavier won the second set by a 25-17 margin before Ashford put a win on the scoreboard in the third set. The home squad trailed only in the early portions of the set and methodically increased its advantage to a 25-20 victory.
However, any momentum that AU won back in set three quickly evaporated as the Cougars notched a 25-9 set win in the fourth game.
Freshman middle blocker Amanda West totaled 3.5 (three solo, one assisted) of AU's nine blocks while Darien, Ill.-native Liz Gbur handed out 34 of AU's 35 assists.
With the loss, Ashford falls to 17-16 overall while St. Xavier improves to 23-3 in 2011.
The Saints have the weekend off before returning to Midwest Collegiate Conference play next Tuesday, Oct. 25 when it travels to La Crosse, Wis. to battle the V-Hawks of Viterbo. Tuesday's match is set for a 7:30 p.m. start.
