Sept. 19, 2011

Box Score

MACOMB Ill. - Meghan Bray had 22 kills and 19 digs and Ashley Nevelle dished out 43 assists for the Oakland University volleyball team (6-5) in a 3-1 loss to Western Illinois (8-5), 19-25, 25-17, 16-25, 25-27, Monday night at Western Hall.

"Western Illinois came out with a lot of intensity and took control of the match in the first set," said head coach Rob Beam. "We were trying to play catch up all night and never got into a rhythm."

Four Golden Grizzlies had double-digit digs led by Alli Kirk who had a career-high 28, Bray (19), Becca Means (18) and Nevelle (16) and totaled 109 for the match. Nevelle had her second-straight 40-plus assist match and Allison Bell added 12 kills.

The Leathernecks jumped out to the early lead taking the first set, but OU quickly tied the match behind Bray and Bell who had 10 out of the team's 12 kills in the set. WIU bounced back in the third set, winning six straight points in the middle of the game and rode that momentum to take the lead in the match.

Oakland looked like they were going to send the match to a fifth set as they were up 22-15. However, Oakland committed three straight hitting errors and a ball handling error to keep the Leathernecks in the game. Western Illinois went on to win twelve of the last fifteen points to win the set 27-25 and the match.

The volleyball team will be in action this weekend as they open up their home Summit League schedule. Friday they will take on defending Summit League champion North Dakota State at 7 p.m. and on Saturday they will face South Dakota State at 7 p.m. with both matches in the Athletics Center O'rena.

-OAKLAND-