GREEN BAY, Wis. - The Oakland women's volleyball team fell to Green Bay, 3-1, in a tight showdown Friday night inside the Kress Center.
 
The Golden Grizzlies (17-12, 11-6 HL) took set one of the match (25-22), but fell in the following three sets (25-18, 25-19, 25-23) to fall behind Green Bay in the Horizon League standings.
 
Libby Gentile led the Golden Grizzlies offensively with 13 kills (.175 H%) followed up closely by senior Patti Cesarini who accounted for 12 points off kills (.156 H%). Both Rachel Rossman and Sarah Turner tallied 22 assists each as both setters saw action in all four sets.
 
To keep pace with her season total, junior Emily Wichmann added 32 digs to her name, 20 more than anyone else on the team.
 
As a whole, the Golden Grizzlies outpaced the Phoenix by one kill (58-57) but tallied 10 more attack errors in the loss. Oakland totaled four blocks and hit at a .178 rate.
 
Tiffany Paalman led the Phoenix (14-15, 12-5 HL) with 15 kills (.244 H%).

"Tonight was a tough loss for our team," head coach Krista Rice said. "I liked how we match up vs Green Bay. They have been playing incredibly well so our staff was really pleased with where we kept their efficiency. We had some really great moments and had our opportunities, but needed more consistent execution throughout the match to win tonight. We have another opportunity tomorrow to build momentum for our group." 

Oakland was in a hole early and were down 8-3, but a quick two points highlighted by a Gentile kill eased the momentum Green Bay built. The Phoenix kept pace, however, and remained in the lead but struggled to pull away from the Golden Grizzlies. It appeared that Green Bay had control of the set as it went up 16-12, but the Golden Grizzlies rattled off four-straight points to tie things up. Play went back-and-forth for the next few points before a Green Bay error gave Oakland its second lead of the match, one of which it wouldn't look back. The Golden Grizzlies scored three of the next four points to put set one away, 25-22.
 
The Golden Grizzlies were down again in the second set and yet again trailed 16-12. Another 4-0 run was replicated to knot things up, but the Phoenix took it from there and didn't look back to take set two, 25-18.
 
The Phoenix took the first two points of set three and didn't look back as Green Bay didn't give the lead to the Golden Grizzlies for the entirety of the set. Oakland challenged Green Bay and tied the score several times, but Green Bay scored seven of eight points late to pull away and go up 2-1 after it took set three, 25-19.
 
Green Bay jumped out to a quick lead again, but Oakland closed the gap and played even until it gained the lead at 10-9. Five-straight points gave the Golden Grizzlies a good cushion and eventually saw its lead go up 18-13. Green Bay came out swinging and scored the next seven to pull ahead late. Oakland pressured a fifth set as it cut the game to 24-23, but Green Bay made one last kill to take the set, 25-23.
 
The Golden Grizzlies wrap up its regular season tomorrow with a matchup against the Milwaukee Panthers with first serve set for 5 p.m. ET.