CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Oakland Golden Grizzlies (9-12, 4-5 HL) defeated Cleveland State (3-17, 0-9 HL) 3-1 on Thursday evening at Woodling Gym, with set scores of 25-27, 27-25, 25-18 and 25-16. After dropping the opening set, Oakland won the next three and used a second-set comeback from a 24-22 deficit to even the match. Oakland totaled 65 kills and hit .237, while CSU finished with 46 kills and a .158 attack percentage.
Outside hitter
Molly Reck led Oakland with 30 points and 26 kills, hitting .305 while adding three aces and 12 digs for another double-double. Setter
Delaney Stern led the offense finishing with 49 assists, a team-high 18 digs and three aces as outside hitter
Liv Hosford added 15 kills, 12 digs and 16 points. Middle blocker
Lillian Frias recorded six kills and a team-high four blocks.
Oakland erased a 24-22 deficit late, as Reck followed a kill with consecutive service aces to move the visitors in front 25-24. Earlier, Oakland recovered from a 12-6 deficit, using a libero
Kalli Cook ace and kills from Reck and Hosford to get back within 13-11. Oakland kept answering through the middle of the set, tying it at 17-17 on a CSU attack error and matching the Vikings at 18, 19, 20 and 21 behind kills from Reck and Stern plus a CSU service error. The Vikings responded to Oakland's 25-24 lead with the final three points, leaving Oakland with a 27-25 first-set loss.
Oakland's main move in the second set came late, when it recovered from a 23-18 deficit by winning seven of the next eight rallies, taking a 25-24 lead on an outside hitter
Olivia Rust kill and continuing on to a 27-25 win. Earlier, middle blocker
Ellen Zapp opened the set with two kills from Stern, and Reck and Rust added kills during a 4-1 start before defensive specialist
Kiley Gallagher's ace put Oakland back in front 6-5. CSU later answered a 12-9 Oakland lead with five straight points, and after Reck tied the set at 14-14, Oakland had to work back from deficits of 21-16 and 23-18. Hosford delivered back-to-back kills during the late response, Stern added an ace to pull Oakland within 24-23, and after the Vikings tied the set at 25, a CSU attack error and Reck's final kill finished the set.
Oakland broke open the third set with a 7-0 run from 11-8 to 18-8, starting with a Zapp kill and continuing behind Stern's serve, including back-to-back aces and another Zapp kill. Earlier, Oakland answered a 5-3 deficit with a Reck kill, then Gallagher served four straight points as Frias and Hosford added kills and the front line produced two blocks to move in front 8-5. CSU cut into the margin late with four straight points from 21-12 to 21-16, but Frias stopped that stretch with a kill and Hosford followed with another to push Oakland back toward the finish. Reck added a service ace for set point, and Oakland closed the 25-18 set on a block by Hosford and Frias.
Oakland created the key separation in the fourth set by turning a 6-4 lead into a 12-5 advantage, getting kills from Frias, Zapp, Hosford and Rust around CSU errors. Stern directed much of the early offense, assisting kills by Hosford, Rust, Reck, Frias and Zapp as Oakland maintained leads of 15-8 and 18-12 despite a Vikings stretch that included consecutive Julia Jozefov kills. Oakland pushed the margin again from 19-13 to 24-14, with Reck delivering three kills in that late stretch and Frias adding a block on a Viking attacking error. CSU scored the next two points, but Frias finished the set with a kill from Stern to give Oakland a 25-16 win.
Continuing the series, Oakland will host Cleveland State in the OU Credit Union O'rena on Saturday, Oct. 24 at 2 p.m. ET. Action from the Blacktop will be available to stream on ESPN+.
How to Follow Oakland Volleyball: For complete information on Oakland Volleyball, follow the team on X at
@OaklandWVB and head coach
Krista Rice at
@KKg1007. The team is also on
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