Aug. 27, 2010

Northern Illinois

DEKALB, Ill. - Sophomore Meghan Bray had 16 kills while senior Brittany Dunn had 15 digs as the Oakland University volleyball team (0-2) lost twice on the opening day of the NIU Invitational, Friday. Dunn now has 925 career digs which ranks second in school NCAA Division I history.

"This was not the beginning to the season that we had expected," said head coach Rob Beam. "We played hesitantly and did not execute at the level that we are capable of playing. I was pleased that we responded when down 2-0 to a very good team (Northern Illinois). Tomorrow, we will be tested again and I'm expecting our players to rise to the challenge in both matches."

Oakland opened the tournament losing to South Dakota (1-1) 3-1 (25-22, 25-20, 20-25, 26-24). Due to technical issues, the box score from the match is not available.

In the night cap, the Golden Grizzlies put forth a valiant battle before falling to Northern Illinois (2-0) 3-1 (25-18, 25-15, 20-25, 25-16). In the third set, Oakland had things in hand with an 18-14 lead. The Huskies came back with a 6-1 run. A kill from Lauren Wilcinski closed the gap to 21-20.

Oakland would counter as Bray slammed one right down the middle to make it 22-20. OU would get kills from freshmen Kasey Clark and Alissa Valentine to move one point away from the win. Clark sealed the deal as she stuffed an NIU hitting attempt to make it 25-20, game over.

In the fourth set, a service ace from junior Allison Bell and a hitting error by the Huskies closed the gap to four, 20-16. The Huskies would score five straight points to take the win.

Bray led the Golden Grizzlies with 16 kills and added 13 digs while junior Jenna Lange added 10 kills. Valentine recorded 10 digs to become the third OU player to have 10+ digs in the match. Bell came away with a match high two solo blocks.

For NIU, Wilcinski had 17 kills and Allison McGlaughlin had 15 while Maddie Hughes picked up 24 digs.

Oakland closes out the tournament on Saturday, with matches against College of Charleston and Chicago State. The matches are scheduled to start at 1:00 and 6:00 p.m., respectively Live Stats for the tournament can be found at http://www.niuhuskies.com/sports/w-volley/niu-w-volley-body.html.

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