GREEN BAY, Wis. – In a 3-2 five set win, Oakland University Volleyball starts the weekend with a win over the Green Bay Phoenix in the Kress Center in #HLVB play to advance the Golden Grizzlies' conference record to 3-3.

Jessica Riedl and Patti Cesarini came firing out of the gate with two kills to their names as Oakland would begin to hum along early at a 6-1 edge. The Phoenix would climb back within two in the middle of the frame though a kill by Cesarini and a final bad set by Green Bay would hand Oakland the 1-0 set lead at 25-19.

The third set would seemingly start in favor of the home green and white's way as Riedl and Anna Nie would sprinkle kills in to keep the Golden Grizzlies within firing distance though OU would never put up more than three points in a row as the Phoenix would escape after being only up by one in 25-22.

With the game now tied, the attention turned to Madison Ross who needed 13 assists at the start of the night as the senior would secure the milestone achievement in the third set with Oakland cruising away to retake the set lead at 2-1 as Riedl and an error by Green Bay would end things at 25-22.
 

𝗦𝗛𝗘'𝗦 𝗗𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗜𝗧

Welcome to the 1K club, Madi. 👏 pic.twitter.com/Qnhapuf06s

— Oakland Volleyball (@OaklandWVB) October 8, 2022

Green Bay would steal the fourth set, running away with the frame's title at 25-13 to force a fifth and decisive set on the night. Two-straight of the Phoenix's 20 errors on the night would knot things up at 2-2 before Oakland would be forced to put up a four-point streak behind the cannons of Nie, Libby Gentile, and Clarke Adams at 8-6. Green Bay would mirror this and put up four of their own unanswered to force an OU timeout where a chess match would ensue.

Both teams would go blow-for-blow for the victory but it was the Golden Grizzlies who would emerge from the debris with three-straight, sandwiched by Cesarini and Gentile's final kills with yet another Phoenix error squished in between for the 16-14 win.

"Tonight was a great win for our program. I loved how composed our group remained throughout the match. We had a great defensive effort tonight with five people earning double-digit digs," said Head Coach Krista Rice, "Our team stayed true to who we are and we played to our strengths. This team can compete with any team in our league and we showed that today."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• The Golden Grizzlies tallied a win against the number two team in the #HLVB standings
• Cesarini, Riedl, and Gentile were the team's kill leaders with 17, 10, and 10, respectively
• Oakland would lead in blocks 8-5, with Nie in on four of them
• Ross would end the night with 27 assists, AnnaBelle Tomei with 25
• Wichmann was the team's leader in digs at 35, a season high

The Golden Grizzlies stay in Wisconsin for the next match tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. against Milwaukee as the team wraps up the badger state slate.