Nov. 6, 2010

Box Score | Post Match Interview

ROCHESTER, Mich. - Sophomore Meghan Bray had 15 kills and senior Brittany Dunn recorded 15 digs as the Oakland University volleyball team (16-12, 11-5 Summit) swept Western Illinois (8-19, 3-14 Summit) 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-18) Saturday night at the Athletics Center O'Rena.

The win keeps the Golden Grizzlies in third place in the Summit League and makes it the first time since 1997 they have had back-to-back winning seasons.

"I thought we executed exceptionally well tonight," said head coach Rob Beam. "It means a lot for us to give Brittany (Dunn) a win in her final home match. She has meant so much to the success of the program and it was nice to be able to reward her."

In the first set, Oakland stormed out to a 10-2 lead and was never challenged after that. The Golden Grizzlies hit a solid .308 while holding Western Illinois to seven kills and seven errors for a .000 hitting percentage.

In the second set, the Fighting Leathernecks took an early 3-2 lead. OU responded with a 10-3 run to lead 12-6. WIU then rallied with two blocks, forced a hitting error and got a smash from Krissy Bergquist to make it 12-10.

Oakland called timeout, came back on the floor and went on an 8-4 run to make it 20-14. The Leathernecks got kills from Allison Gilbert and Heather Smith to make it 20-16. OU then settled down and went on a 5-2 run to take the set.

In the third set, the Golden Grizzlies took a 13-8 lead. Western Illinois got two kills and forced two attack errors to close the gap to one, 13-12. Oakland responded with an 8-4 run to lead 21-16.

WIU picked up a point on a ball handling error to close to four, 21-17. That was as close as they got as freshman Audrey Wilson smashed the ball down the pipe to end the match.

For Oakland, Bray had nine digs, four service aces and hit .355 and junior Allison Bell had 10 kills. Junior Ashley Nevelle quarterbacked the attack with 37 assists. Sophomore Alli Kirk had 13 digs while Dunn recorded her 25th straight double-digit dig match. Dunn now has 1,403 career digs, tied for 11th best in Summit League history.

"It hasn't really hit me yet that I'm done at home because we still have matches left to play," said Dunn. "I'm excited about closing my home career with two victories. We'll get out, have another good week of practice."

Oakland hits the road, Thursday, Nov. 11 to take on Southern Utah. The match is scheduled to start at 9 p.m.

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