Oct. 1, 2010

Box Score

BROOKINGS, S.D. - Sophomore Brittany Holbrook had 13 kills and no errors to hit .448 and senior Brittany Dunn had a season-high 29 digs as the Oakland University volleyball team (8-9, 3-3 Summit) fell 3-1 (25-21, 25-21, 17-25, 25-22) to South Dakota State (7-7, 3-3 Summit) Friday evening.

"We started out very slowly tonight which hurt us," said head coach Rob Beam. "Brittany (Holbrook), Allison and Jenna all had tremendous offensive performances. Dunner and Ashley were both spectacular on defense. Unfortunately, our slow start as a team did not allow us to capitalize on those performances. I expect to see a team that is much more energized tomorrow and for the remainder of the season in the opening set."

In the first set, South Dakota State jumped to a 13-9 lead. Oakland came back with four straight points to tie the set at 13-13. The teams traded back points until OU forced a hitting error to lead 18-17. The Jackrabbits would close the set with an 8-3 run to take the win.

In the second set, the two teams battled to a 7-7 tie. Junior Ashley Nevelle smashed the ball to the floor to make it 8-7, OU. That sparked a 9-4 run to give Oakland a 17-13 lead. SDSU would battle back to tie the set at 18.

The Golden Grizzlies got kills from juniors Allison Bell and Jenna Lange to take the lead back at 20-19. Following an Oakland service error, Nevelle got another kill to make it 21-19. The Jackrabbits scored six straight points to go up 2-0.

In the third set, Oakland took the early lead at 7-3. The Golden Grizzlies went on an 11-7 run to lead 18-10. South Dakota State battled back closing the margin to five, 21-16. Oakland went on a 4-1 run ending the set on a kill from Bell.

In the fourth set, once again both teams traded back points until it was 10-10. Oakland went on a 10-7 spurt to lead 20-17. SDSU came back with three straight points to make it 20-20. Kills from Holbrook and junior Ashleigh Slemmer made it 22-20, OU. The Jackrabbits then scored five straight points to end the match.

For Oakland, Bell had 12 kills and hit .294 while Lange had 10 kills and hit .391. Nevelle had 40 assists and 18 digs, her second straight 40+ assist and 10+ digs performance. Dunn's 29 digs was the second best performance of her career and her 16th double-digit match of the season. Slemmer had a solid night with seven kills, three service aces and 12 digs.

For South Dakota State, Kaitlin Klingermann had 14 kills while Bailey Philippot added 11 kills. Thyele Rechatiko had 46 assists and 14 digs while Shay Birath collected 23 digs.

Oakland remains on the road taking on North Dakota State. The game is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. with Live Stats being provided at www.ougrizzlies.com.

-30-