OAKLAND TRAVELS TO MICHIGAN STATE, HOSTS MIAMI THIS WEEK

The Golden Grizzlies will take on the Spartans Thursday, Redhawks Saturday

ROCHESTER, Mich. -- The Oakland volleyball team will travel to East Lansing to take on Michigan State Thursday, Sept. 12 at 7 p.m. and host Miami (OH) Saturday, Sept. 14 at 4 p.m. inside the O'rena. Thursday's match will be streamed live on Big Ten Network Plus.

Saturday's match against the Redhawks is Player Family Night at the O'rena as the volleyball team will honor its student-athletes' families for their support.

DOLLARS FOR DORIAN RELIEF
As part of a university wide initiative, the athletics department will donate the ticket proceeds from Saturday's volleyball and men's soccer matches to the Dollars for Dorian Relief effort. By supporting the Golden Grizzlies teams, cost of admission is going to help those in need at the University of The Bahamas. More information can be found here.

Last time out, the Golden Grizzlies dropped a tightly-contested five-set match to Bowling Green at home as Jamie Walling recorded 25 kills and hit .380, plus had six blocks and five digs.

INSIDE THE SERIES

Oakland is 0-7 all-time against Michigan State and last faced the Spartans in 2010 falling in four sets.
The Golden Grizzlies are 1-26 all-time vs. Big Ten opponents (wins: Michigan, 2-0, 1977).
Oakland will meet Miami (OH) for just the second time in its history after dropping its only previous match in 2018, 3-1, in Oxford.

HORIZON LEAGUE LEADERS
INDIVIDUAL

Hitting percentage: Walling (1st)

NOTES

Walling ranks inside the NCAA Top-50 in points (37th) and kills (49th).
Oakland ranks inside the NCAA Top-50 in total blocks (39th) and blocks per set (44th).
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.
Taylor Dellinger and Walling are both coming off stellar offensive performances after averaging 4.12 and 4.00 kills per set respectively last weekend. Walling also hit .367 in the three matches and recorded 11 total blocks.
Dellinger has now recorded a career high in kills in three of her last four matches.
Megan Hobler was named to last weekend's all-tournament team after recording 18 total blocks and 1.38 blocks per set.
Walling already has a three of 20-plus-kill performances this season. Coming into 2019, she had four in her career.
Since Aug. 31, Walling has hit 4.41 kills per set with a .369 percentage, Dellinger has hit 4.29 kills per set and Megan Hobler has recorded 1.50 blocks per set.
Rob Beam enters his 13th season as the head coach at Oakland compiling a 189-172 (.523) 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.
Lindsay 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 Dellinger (Western Kentucky), Kerra Cornist (Evansville) and Brittany Welch (New Mexico State).