Sept. 25, 2010

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ROCHESTER, Mich. - Sophomore Meghan Bray had 20 kills and 13 digs, junior Audrey Nevelle had 41 assists and 14 digs and senior Brittany Dunn had 24 digs as the Oakland University volleyball team (8-8, 3-2 Summit) lost 3-2 (25-17, 25-22, 20-25, 13-25, 15-11) to Southern Utah (6-8, 4-2 Summit) Saturday night.

"Sometimes in volleyball, the hardest thing to do is keep things going in the fifth set, after being down 2-0," said head coach Rob Beam. `"I thought our team came out with a lot of energy in the third set. We rallied to win and that carried over to the fourth set. In the fifth set, Southern Utah played really well over the first five points and unfortunately things did not go our way."

In the first set, Southern Utah took the early 6-5 lead before going off on a 12-7 run to up 18-12. The Golden Grizzlies could get no closer than five points.

In the second set, the Thunderbirds appeared to have the game in control leading 23-17. Junior Allison Bell stuffed the ball cross court to make it 23-18. Sophomore Jillian Kulka came in and served up two aces and had a kill.

That made it 23-21 and SUU call a timeout. Following the timeout, each team scored making it 24-22. Oakland then had an error to give the set to Southern Utah.

In the third set, neither team was able to pull away. A kill by the Thunderbirds' Jazmine Ma'afala made it 19-18, Oakland. The Golden Grizzlies took charge with a 6-2 run, ending the set on a blast by junior Jenna Lange.

In the fourth set, OU roared out to an 8-0 lead and never looked back. In the deciding set, Southern Utah took a 7-3 lead and traded points making it 14-9. The Golden Grizzlies forced two hitting errors before SUU got a kill to end the match.

For Oakland, Bell had 10 kills and five blocks while freshman Audrey Wilson added 10 kills. Dunn's 24 digs were her 15th double-digit performance of the season. Kulka had a strong performance with a kill, two aces and seven digs.

For Southern Utah, Analaine Pelaez had 16 kills and 19 digs while Brittney Clark had 41 assists.

Oakland hits the road, Oct. 1, taking on South Dakota State. The game is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. Live State will be available at www.ougrizzlies.com.

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