Aug. 25, 2011

ROCHESTER, Mich.- The Oakland University volleyball team will open the 2011 season in the Blue-Gold Invitational hosted by the University of Toledo, Aug. 26-27, inside Savage Arena (7,300). The Golden Grizzlies will start the year by taking on Niagara on Friday at 5 p.m. They will finish the weekend taking on Wright State on Saturday at 12 p.m. and Toledo at 7 p.m.

"I think we are in a good position going into this weekend," said head coach Rob Beam. "I feel very confident about our team and we will learn a lot about ourselves right away."

This will be the first competitive match of the year for the Golden Grizzlies as last week the team held their annual Black and Gold scrimmage. Brittany Holbrook had a match-high 16 kills while Alissa Valentine recorded 28 assists. Freshman Taylor Humm recorded 12 kills in her first action as a Golden Grizzly.

Niagara is the two-time defending Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champions and were selected as the favorites to win their conference and head to the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row. Wright State returns two starters from last year's squad that went 9-20. Host Toledo went 13-17 last year and returns all six starters, including two-time All-MAC second team selection Kassie Kadera.

"We have a great weekend of competition ahead of us," said Beam. "Niagara is a team who has built themselves to be a championship contender and getting a team with that kind of success is exactly what we want to set the tone for the 2011 campaign."

Fans can follow all of the action on live stats by going to OUgrizzlies.com or by clicking here.

-OAKLAND-