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TeamAU fall sports are coming near the end of their season’s with multiple squads in action during the past week.

Womens soccer

Asbury womens soccer (1-8-4) traveled to Maryville, Tn., on Thursday, Oct. 19, and fell to Maryville College (11-2-3), the No. 1 ranked team in the Collegiate Conference of the South (CCS). Asbury and the CCS announced two weeks ago that the Eagles will become an official member of the conference July 1, 2024. Asbury’s offense was held in check by the Maryville defense, resulting in a 4-0 win by the Scots. The Maryville defense has been impressive all season as they lead the CCS in goals against per game (.44). AU got two shots off and both were on goal attempts. Maryville was able to get off 18 shots on the night with nine leading to shot on goal (SOG) attempts. The Eagles recorded five saves compared to the Scots two.

The women then next hosted Mount St. Joseph (MSJ), (10-5-2) on Monday Oct. 23, at the newly completed phase one outdoor venue in Wilmore. The Lions took the victory in a tight match, 2-1.

Asbury was able to get off six shots on the night with three landing on goal. The Lions got seven shots off with six landing as on goal attempts. Asbury led MSJ in saves with four to the Lions zero. Junior Mary Tidei scored her first goal of the season off a beautiful assist from Caroline Absher.

Volleyball

Sophomore Riley McChord’s 24 digs and 12 Emma Grace Gray kills rallied Asbury (9-13) all the way to five sets before falling on Tuesday, Oct. 17, at the University of Rio Grande (14-8). Rio Grande took the first two sets of the match and then Asbury responded in style with two straight wins to force a fifth set for the second year in a row in Rio Grande, Oh., with the Red Storm. McChord’s 24 dig match is a season-high and her ninth time this season with 20-plus digs. She now has 589 career digs in a season and a half for AU.

Asbury freshman Eve-Elyse Hall dished a career-high 21 assists on Friday, Oct. 20, in Wilmore, but Union College (10-15) took the win over Asbury volleyball (9-12) in three sets. Both teams were efficient offensively as Union hit a .244 percentage and AU hit .145. The Eagles committed 21 errors while Union committed 14. Emma Grace Gray led Asbury in kills with 12 while Megan Walden had 10. Macie Pack and McKenna Rumage each had two blocks in the match while Riley McChord led AU defensively with 13 digs.

Asbury sophomore Riley McChord set another season-high in digs with 25 on Monday night at Georgetown College (10-21) as Asbury volleyball fell to the Tigers in four sets.

McChord now has nine matches this season with 20 or more digs, backing up her 24-dig performance last week against Rio Grande. AU had 36 overall kills in the match with 24 errors while Georgetown had 49 kills with 15 errors.

Swimming

Asbury University men’s and women’s swimming opened the season hosting Campbellsville University on Friday, Oct. 20, in Wilmore, Ky. The AU women’s team came out on top, outscoring CU 145-35 and the Campbellsville men took the win over Asbury with a score of 107-76.In the overall score count, Asbury secured their victory with a total score of 221-142 over the Tigers. The women took first in the 200 Medley Relay with help from Emme Johnson, Joy Killingsworth, Sarah Finlayson, and Chloe Anderson. Amber Schulte took first in the womens 1000 Free with a time of 11:38.44. Sarah Finlayson followed closely behind, claiming second with a time of 11:43.21.Sophomore Claire Hentrup helped lead the women with two first-place finishes in the 50 free (25.89) and the 100 free (56.80). Hentrup also aided in two medley victories for the women as well. Senior Ian Wang had successful races for the men, grabbing two first-place finishes in the 200 IM (2:02.63) and the 200 breast (2:13.05). Colin Smith also tallied two more first-place finishes for AU in the 1,000 free (11:11.00) and the 500 free (5:20.23).

Cross Country

The Asbury cross country teams traveled to Knoxville, Tn., on  Friday, Oct. 20, to compete in the 2023 Appalachian Challenge. Good competition and the perfectly flat course along the banks of the Tennessee River contributed to some great performances for the Eagles.Freshman Bailey Gassmann took advantage of the ideal conditions to race to the fastest time of her young collegiate career. In the process of dropping her 5K time from 19:52 down to 19:10, she moved from 16th place to 3rd in Asbury’s school history. Gassmann now trails only school record holder Katy Falkenburg and NCCAA All-American Carolina Trumpower on the cross country program’s all-time list. She crossed the finish line in 32nd place in the meet. The Asbury mens team was paced by Wes Preston with his season-best of 26:23 for 8K (5 miles). That time was a frustrating scant two seconds shy of his all-time personal best set last November in the NCCAA National Championship meet where he earned All-American honors.