Sept. 14, 2013

Box Score

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Amanda Baker accumulated 12 kills and added two service aces, while Mary Grassano earned a team-high 17 digs as Oakland (4-6) lost its second game of the Shamrock Invitational to host Notre Dame (4-3) on Saturday afternoon by a score of 3-1 (25-21, 24-26, 19-25, 20-25).

In the loss, Cassie Pelloni recorded double-digit kills with 10 and Alissa Valentine, Ciara Schultz and Taylor Humm performed well defensively recording 12, 13 and 15 digs respectively.

Oakland put on a hitting clinic in the first set recording a .344 percentage, five of the total 15 kills belonging to Baker. This would lead OU to a 25-21 win for the 1-0 advantage over the Irish. In set two, the Golden Grizzlies started with a 7-1 lead over Notre Dame but a service error by Valentine made it Notre Dame's ball leading to a seven-point rant, putting the host team back in the game. The remainder of the set stayed tight but Notre Dame eventually bested OU, 26-24.

Set three saw a vast improvement in offense for Oakland from its -.024 percentage in the previous affair, but a similar trend occurred for the Irish as well, clearly riding the wave of momentum from their second-set victory. An additional set victory was not entirely out of reach for OU until Notre Dame earned five straight points to make the score 20-14 and closed out the set 25-19. The Grizzlies showed a valiant effort in what would be the final set of the match, keeping themselves in contention but ultimately dropped the set 25-20 for a 3-1 decision.

Oakland will play its final match of the tournament at 5 p.m. against former Horizon League member, Loyola.

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