Ashland volleyball finishes undefeated in OCC play, first since 2017

LEXINGTON – Tuesday’s regular season finale would’ve been an easy one to overlook for the Ashland Arrows.

“Last week was a very emotional week winning the conference championship, then clinching outright, then senior night on Thursday, and we had a really good battle on Saturday against St. Paul,” coach Jenise Vaughn said. “There was a chance that today could have been a letdown match.”

But she knew her team had a goal at the beginning of the year and they weren’t going to let anything stand in their way.

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“Going into this season we really wanted to have that 14-0 — not only just win the OCC — but go undefeated,” senior Makenna Chandler said. “It’s huge for us as a team in our completing our goals.”

The Arrows swept rival Lexington 25-17, 25-10, 25-14 to secure an undefeated run through the league for the first time since 2017. They also broke the single-season aces record coming in one shy of tying it and surpassing that mark in the first set.

“I’m incredibly proud of this group, they’re very reminiscent of our 2017 team and 2020 team because of our incredible leaders,” Vaughn said. “They are selfless, they are each other’s biggest cheerleaders and biggest fans, butthey also push each other daily in practice — it’s just that special, magical group that comes together.”

And stats like that are all that matters to the Arrows. Chandler, who reached 500 digs early in the opening set was thrilled about her accomplishment but credited those around her for being able to achieve it.

“It’s amazing, but I wouldn’t be here without my team,” she said.

After dropping the opening match of the season to Norwalk, Ashland has reeled off 21 consecutive wins only dropping four sets along the way.

“I think after that first game we really learned that we had to turn it on and that we weren’t gonna compete and win games if we weren’t playing our speed,” Chandler said. “After that, we all really locked in … and every match we take game-by-game, play our speed, and play our game no matter the opponent.”

“It’s all credit to our athletes, they put the work in,” Vaughn added. “It’s not an easy accomplishment, it’s something that has been years in the making … it looks like it happened overnigt, but it’s been happening and building for years. Twenty one matches in a row, that’s a hard feat to accomplish.”

And the way they’ve done it is what is most impressive. The balance on the team is remarkable with three girls boasting 60-plus assists and another trio approaching 40, five have double-digit blocks, four have more than 100 digs and receptions, three have more than 165 kills. And alongside Arienne Vaughn’s 624 assists, her teammates have combined for an additional 130.

“The strength of our team is our team,” coach Vaughn said. “We have multiple offensive hitters that could be our leading hitter any night adn we have a tremendous back row. We have multiple players that play six rotations, they’re very versatile and very encouraging of each other.

“That selfless play is what gets the job done.”

Ashland shifts its focus to the postseason where the Arrows open play hosting Ontario in a Division III sectional championship on Oct. 21.

[email protected] | 419-617-6018 | Twitter/X: @Zachary_Holden

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Ashland volleyball finishes undefeated in OCC play, first since 2017