Sept. 10, 2011

Box Score

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Allison Bell had 21 kills and hit.409 for the match while Alli Kirk had a season-high 25 digs as Oakland University (5-4) lost a five-set match to Iowa (6-3),25-17, 22-25, 27-25, 15-25, 8-15, in the finale of the Iowa Volleyball Invitational on Saturday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

"Despite the loss this was a good performance for our team," said head coach Rob Beam. "I was glad to see our level of play elevate against a quality opponent."

In the deciding set, The Golden Grizzlies fell behind quickly 12-5 behind the balanced attack of the Hawkeyes and were not able to recover. Oakland tried to come back winning the next three points but Iowa was too much to handle as they won the set and the match 15-8.

Bell led the Golden Grizzlies with 49 kills and 10 block assists and Kirk led the backline all weekend with a team-high 62 digs for the weekend to earn all-tournament honors.

"I am very proud of Allison Bell and Alli Kirk for their outstanding play this weekend and their selections to the all-tournament team," said Beam. "This was a particularly big weekend for Allison and she delivered in a big way in her home state."

Oakland came out strong wining the first set 25-17 behind 19 kills and a .390 hitting percentage led by Bray with eight kills and Valentine with 18 assists in the set. OU dropped a close second set 25-22 as they could not keep up with the strong hitting of Iowa who had 19 kills. The Black and Gold fought back winning the third set 27-25 behind six kills by Bell. Iowa came out strong in the fourth set winning behind another strong hitting performance with a .419 hitting percentage for the set.

The Golden Grizzlies will be on the court next at IPFW as they open Summit League play in Fort Wayne starting at 7 p.m. on Sept. 17 in Gates Sport Center.

-OAKLAND-