ROCHESTER, MIch. — The Oakland University volleyball program extinguished the UIC Flames in four sets (18-25, 25-21, 28-26, 25-22) on Friday night inside the Athletics Center O'rena. The loss was UIC's first in Horizon League play.
Graduate senior Jamie Walling paced the Golden Grizzlies (10-7, 4-2 HL) with a team-leading 15 kills to go along with seven digs and three blocks. Senior Brittany Welch contributed the attack with 10 kills, while redshirt freshman Patti Cesarini had nine of her own. A pair of junior setters in AnnaBelle Tomei and Madison Ross had assist totals of 27 and 14, respectively.
Defensively, fifth-year senior Lindsay Wightman tallied a match-best 17 digs. Junior Haley Brown was impressive with season-high marks in digs (10) and service aces (2). The senior duo of Kerra Cornist and Jessica Riedl limited the UIC attack with four blocks apiece. OU finished the match with a total of 8.0 team blocks.
The Flames (7-9, 3-1 HL) struck first with a 25-18 opening-set win. Oakland led 14-10 in the period, but UIC took the next eight points to gain an 18-14 advantage and coasted the rest of the way. The Flame attack was at their best in the period with 15 spikes and a .294 hitting percentage. Meanwhile, the Golden Grizzlies hit .214 with 10 kills and four errors.
The following set featured back-and-forth play with 12 ties and five lead changes. OU went on a 4-0 run with the period tied, 21-21, to clinch a 25-21 set victory. Cornist was a spark plug in the set with three kills and two blocks. Seven different Golden Grizzlies tallied points to even the match at one set apiece.
Oakland found itself behind 14-9 in the third set but rallied back to tie it up at 22-all following an attack error by the Flames. While both teams gained leads in the ensuing possessions, OU took the final two points off another attack error by UIC and a kill by Walling, resulting in a 28-26 victory for the Golden Grizzlies. Walling was at her best in the period with seven kills on just 14 swings, good for a .429 hitting percentage. Tomei was also on point with 10 assists. As a team, Oakland hit .342 with 17 kills and just four errors.
OU opened the fourth set with a 9-3 lead, highlighted by a block from Ross and Riedl. However, UIC answered back with an 11-2 scoring spurt to go ahead 14-11. The Golden Grizzlies surged back to tie the period at 22-all following a solo block by Walling and then earned the next three points to clinch a match-deciding 25-22 victory.
The Golden Grizzlies will close their homestand with a contest against Green Bay on Sunday, Oct. 10. First serve is set for 2 p.m.
Match Highlights
#GrizzVision with Rob Beam
