OAKLAND TAKES ON CLEVELAND STATE, YOUNGSTOWN STATE ON THE ROAD

The Golden Grizzlies will look to extend their three-game winning streak

ROCHESTER, Mich. -- The Oakland volleyball team will begin a four-game road trip by taking on Cleveland State Saturday, Oct. 19 at 4 p.m. and Youngstown State Sunday, Oct. 20 at 2 p.m.

Oakland is coming off a win over first place Milwaukee on Oct. 13, as the Golden Grizzlies snapped the Panthers' NCAA-leading 15-game winning streak in a five set thriller.

INSIDE THE SERIES

Cleveland State leads the series 15-7.
The Vikings have won three straight matches in the series.
Oakland leads the series with Youngstown State 13-6 and has won 13 straight matches against the Penguins.
The last YSU win in the series came in 2000.
Oakland has never lost to YSU since joining the Horizon League in 2013.

NOTES

Megan Hobler ranks 20th nationally in total blocks (88).
On Oct. 9 at Northern Kentucky, Oakland set a new single match school record with 126 digs, obliterating the previous record from 2009 of 115.
Brittany Welch is coming off a pair of impressive performances last week both offensively and defensively. She averaged 3.90 kills per set while also averaging 4.20 digs per set.
At NKU, Welch recorded a career high 21 kills and 26 digs as Oakland came out victorious in a five set battle inside Regents Hall. It was her first career match of over 20 kills and just her second career match of over 20 digs. On Oct. 13 against Milwaukee, she recorded 18 kills and 16 digs, plus two blocks in another five set win.
On Oct. 5 against UIC, Lindsay Wightman became the eighth player in program history to record 1,000 career digs. The junior libero averaged 5.00 digs per set last weekend, and notched 30 digs or more for the fourth time in her career, leading Oakland with 32, on Oct. 4 against Green Bay.
Jamie Walling already has four 20-plus-kill performances this season. Coming into 2019, she had four in her career.
On Sept. 7 against Belmont, Mackenzie Schneider recorded seven service aces which tied Melissa Deatsch (2013), Meghan Bray (2011) and Becca Moeller (2003) for the single match school record.
Rob Beam enters his 13th season as the head coach at Oakland compiling a 196-177 (.522) record.
Oakland has finished fourth or higher in its league standings in eight of the last nine seasons.
The Golden Grizzlies were picked fourth in the 2019 Horizon League Volleyball Preseason Poll announced by the league office on Aug. 28 and voted on by the league's nine head coaches. Oakland earned one first-place vote and 49 points overall.
Oakland returns a first team all-league selection in Walling. She was the only player to appear in all 27 matches and play in all 108 sets last season and ranked second in the Horizon League in hitting percentage at .290.
Walling also ranked third in the conference in points per set (3.87), fourth in kills per set (3.37) and recorded 20 kills or more in four matches.
Wightman returns for her junior season as one of the league's top defensive specialists, ranking fourth in the conference last season in digs per set.
Wightman also ranked inside the NCAA's top-50 in digs per set (45th) in 2018.
Oakland added eight newcomers to the 2019 team, including three transfers in Taylor Dellinger (Western Kentucky), Kerra Cornist (Evansville) and Welch (New Mexico State).