Sept. 4, 2010

Tennessee State | Ball State

MUNCIE, Ind. - Sophomore Meghan Bray had 21 kills and five service aces, senior Brittany Dunn had 28 digs and junior Allison Bell had 16 kills and hit .352 as the Oakland University volleyball team (3-4) beat Tennessee State (0-3) 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 26-24) and fell to Ball State (6-0) 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-14) at the Active Ankle Challenge on Saturday.

Oakland was in complete control during the first two sets against Tennessee State. In the third set, the Golden Grizzlies took a 17-12 lead before the Tigers went on a 12-7 run. Tied at 24, Oakland forced TSU into two attack errors to take the win.

Sophomore Brittany Holbrook had nine kills and hit .412, Bray had eight kills and four service aces and Bell had eight kills and hit .412. Junior Ashley Nevelle had 26 assists, Dunn had 13 digs while sophomore Alli Kirk collected 10 digs. Dunn became just the second OU player at the NCAA Division I level to record 1000 career digs.

"We came out and executed exceptionally well," said head coach Rob Beam. "Our side-out game was very sharp. Our primary passers deserve much of the credit for making our offense run smoothly. Ashley did a great job getting the ball to the right hitters at the right time."

In the opening set of the final match, Ball State seemed to be in charge with a 21-17 lead. Oakland got two kills from Bray, a service ace from Nevelle and a kill from Holbrook to make it 21-21. The team traded points until 23-23 when the Cardinals got two kills to end the set.

In the second set, the Golden Grizzlies trailed 20-15 before getting a kill from junior Katie Horling and an error from BSU. That made it 20-17. The Cardinals outscored OU 5-4 the rest of the way for the win. In the third set, Ball State just didn't allowed Oakland to get any momentum to close out the match.

Bray had 13 kills, Bell had eight kills and hit .300 and Nevelle had 25 assists. Dunn came away with 15 digs while Kirk had 10.

"Ball State came out and played a very clean match offensively," said Beam. "We had to work really hard to score a point. The match was very competitive and close in many ways. I felt we just made too many unforced errors, given how well Ball State played.

Junior Jenna Lange and Nevelle were named to the all-tournament team. Lange had 14 kills and hit .213 in nine sets. Nevelle averaged 9.89 assists (89) and 2.56 digs (23) per set.

"Having Jenna and Ashley named to the all-tournament team was exciting," said Beam. "While Jenna did a great job both offensively and defensively throughout the tournament, I think she brings a number of intangibles to the court that everyone can see. Ashley did a great job running the offense. Over the course of the three matches, we hit for good numbers, and her location and selection was a big part of that."

Oakland opens up the home season, Tuesday, Sept. 7 against local rival Eastern Michigan. The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

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