Oct. 25, 2013
Box Score
ROCHESTER, Mich. - Three Oakland players tallied double-digit kills when Amanda Baker and Cassie Pelloni earned 13 a piece and Jessica Dood added 12 of her own as the Golden Grizzlies (10-13, 4-4 HL) notched a home victory over visitor Green Bay (9-12, 4-4 HL) on Friday night in the Athletics Center O'rena. The set scores were 25-22, 25-21, 23-25 and 25-20.
"It was a balanced offensive performance," commented head coach, Rob Beam. "I think that is a tribute to our setters. Claire (Paszkiewicz) really did a great job of calling the match from the bench and the hitters delivered. I thought it was a really good effort by everybody and that's really going to bode well for us as we go through the remainder of the Horizon League season."
Melissa Deatsch proved to be a hot hand for Oakland by racking up seven service aces in the match. Baker's 13 kills on the night were good for an impressive .500 hitting efficiency. Brooke Wadsworth contributed a solid four block assists and Ciara Schultz and Alissa Valentine put up 24 and 21 assists respectively. Green Bay hit .181 on the night compared to OU's .188 and the slight edge made the difference for the Grizzlies as they were able to get the result in the match.
Set one began in favor of Green Bay when OU committed a few unfortunate and untimely attacking errors. A kill by Baker and a service ace by Deatsch would set the tone for the Grizzlies as they began to build their advantage. Oakland took set one, 25-22. The second set of the match never showed a Phoenix lead and Oakland took complete control right off the bat with a 6-0 advantage. OU cruised to the 25-21 victory and the 2-0 advantage in the match.
For the third set, the Grizzlies led the whole match until the very tail end. They allowed Green Bay to creep back in and tie the score at 23-23 and continue on for the set victory, 25-23. With the match score at 2-1, Oakland was looking for the close out while Green Bay was attempting to stay alive. OU began with the lead at 7-3 but the Phoenix would not go away so easily, jumping ahead for a couple of brief points. The Grizzlies rallied and fought back to regain the lead, and though a tight affair in the middle goings, OU was able to pull it off in the end. Baker put the final nail in the match for the 25-20 win and the overall 3-1 victory.
Oakland is in action again on Saturday in the O'rena when the league-leading Panthers from Milwaukee pay a visit for a 4 p.m. match.
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