Sept. 1, 2012
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ROCHESTER, Mich. - Meghan Bray earned a match-high 18 kills and a .517 hitting percentage, while Brittany Holbrook had 12 kills with a .348 hitting percentage as the Oakland volleyball team (2-3) earned a straight set victory over Eastern Illinois (2-3_ in the Golden Grizzly Invitational Saturday afternoon in the Athletics Center O'rena. OU won with set score of 25-22, 25-12 and 25-23.
"Eastern Illinois is a very good, competitive team and I feel really good about getting a win," said Oakland head coach Rob Beam. "We played two tight sets but our team passed and served well which put pressure on them as we fought hard for the victory. We got into some tough matchups in the first and third sets but found a matchup we liked in the second set to go away from Eastern Illinois."
The Golden Grizzlies combined to a hit an impressive .367 for the match as Taylor Humm added nine kills. Alissa Valentine and Ciara Schultz ran the offense efficiently for the second straight match, combining for 37 assists. Alli Kirk and Humm added 10 digs in the back row, while Bray added nine.
In the opening set, both teams played even throughout most of the set as the teams had 10 ties. With the score 21-21, the Golden Grizzlies turned up the offense as they earned four kills by four different players to win the opening game 25-22. The second set was dominated by Oakland as the team combined for 15 kills and a .464 hitting percentage. OU jumped out to a 8-2 lead causing three EIU hitting errors and never looked back. The lead increased to as many as 13 points led by Bray with seven kills and Holbrook added four kills to take a 2-0 advantage with a 25-12 set win.
In the final game of the match, OU took control of the early going as they led by as many as six points behind three kills by Humm. The Panthers battled back to tie the score at 21-21, but Oakland's defense came through in the clutch causing two attack errors and a bad set, including a block by Amanda Baker and Allia Knight to seal the 25-23 set win and the match.
The Golden Grizzlies will play the final match of the Golden Grizzly Invitational tonight against Iowa at 7 p.m. inside the Athletics Center O'rena.
#Fight Oakland
