ROCHESTER, Mich. — The Oakland Golden Grizzlies (11-13, 6-6 HL) dropped, 3-1 (22-25, 23-25, 25-21, 19-25) to Milwaukee (11-13, 6-6 HL) on Saturday afternoon on the Blacktop at the OU Credit Union O'rena. Oakland rallied in the third set after trailing 15-13, moving ahead 18-16 on the way to its lone set win. The Black and Gold finished with 53 kills and hit .241, while the Panthers totaled 65 kills and hit .304 from their front line.
Outside hitter
Molly Reck led Oakland with 16 kills and 18.5 points, adding two service aces and six digs, as setter
Delaney Stern guided the offense with 44 assists, 10 digs, a service ace and a block assist. Middle blocker
Grace Cooney posted nine kills and stuffed a team-high seven blocks, including two solo stuffs. Outside hitter
Liv Hosford added 11 kills, 10 digs and two block assists.
Oakland erased an early five-point deficit and led in the middle of the first set, but the Panthers moved from a 20-20 tie to 24-20 and held on for a 25-22 set win. Earlier, Oakland trailed 9-4 before Reck and Hosford produced kills, and Stern's ace brought the set to 11-10. Cooney's kill tied it at 13-13, Reck answered at 14-14, and middle blocker
Lillian Frias followed with a kill to give Oakland a 15-14 lead before Oakland later moved ahead 18-16 on a Hosford kill, a MKE bad set and a service error. After Cooney tied the set at 19-19 and a Hosford-Cooney block made it 20-20, MKE created the late separation; Oakland scored on a service error and a Panther attacking error before Milwaukee closed down the set.
OU's central second-set push came after the Panthers moved ahead 14-9, with Oakland cutting the gap to 16-14 and later tying the set four times in the closing stretch. Earlier, kills by Cooney, outside hitter
Olivia Rust and Hosford helped Oakland trade points, and Cooney and Hosford teamed on a block as Oakland worked from an 8-4 deficit back to 9-9. MKE answered with five straight points to go up 14-9, but Reck had two kills around a middle blocker
Kamsi Iweajunwa block and an Iweajunwa kill to get Oakland within 16-14. Reck's service ace made it 17-16, and after Hosford, Cooney and Rust added kills, Reck put down a kill from libero
Kalli Cook that tied it at 20-20. Reck tied the set again at 21-21, 22-22 and 23-23 on kills from Stern, but the Panthers got the final two points for a 25-23 set win.
Oakland turned a 16-14 deficit into an 18-16 lead in the third set and later won four of the final five points to finish a 25-21 set victory. Earlier, Milwaukee scored the first two points and led until Oakland tied the set at 16-16, with Reck, Cooney, opposite hitter
Ella Schomer and Iweajunwa helping keep Oakland within range through the middle of the set. Trailing 15-12, Oakland got consecutive kills from Hosford, and after the Panthers moved ahead 16-14, the home side strung together four straight points on an Iweajunwa kill, a Schomer kill, Schomer's block and another Hosford kill. MKE tied the set at 18-18 and 20-20, but Reck put Oakland back in front with a kill, Cooney added a block and a kill in the closing stretch, and Cooney finished the set with a Stern-assisted kill.
Oakland opened the fourth set with a Schomer kill from Stern, but the Panthers answered by moving in front 7-2. Oakland worked back from there, with a Reck kill, a Cooney block and MKE errors helping cut the margin to 9-7. After the Panthers stretched it to 13-7, Schomer delivered back-to-back kills in the middle of the set, Frias added two kills, and defensive specialist
Kiley Gallagher's ace helped Oakland get as close as 16-15 before a Panther attack error made it 17-16. Cooney and Stern combined on a block to get Oakland to 20-17, and outside hitter
Ella Martin later added a kill, but the Panthers scored the final two points to take the set 25-19.
In their penultimate series of the regular season, Oakland will head to Youngstown to face Youngstown State Friday, Nov. 6 before the Penguins head to Rochester on Saturday, Nov. 7. First serve for both matches will start at 4 p.m. ET 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
Instagram.
