FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Oakland (11-17, 6-9 HL) fell to Purdue Fort Wayne (15-13, 9-6 HL), 3-0, on Friday, with set scores of 24-26, 20-25 and 15-25. Oakland finished with 43 kills and hit .225, while PFW hit .327. The Golden Grizzlies moved in front in the second set after trailing 10-7, but the host side took the set and completed the sweep.
Outside hitter
Liv Hosford led Oakland with 13 kills and added nine digs as setter
Delaney Stern recorded 34 assists and 13 digs. Outside hitter
Molly Reck finished with eight kills on 10 attacks without an error, hitting .800, while opposite hitter
Caroline Moore posted 10 kills and four digs.
Oakland pushed the opening set to 24-24 on a Reck kill from Stern before PFW took the final two points for a 26-24 finish. Earlier, Oakland opened with the first three points on kills by Hosford, middle blocker
Lillian Frias and Hosford again, and continued to answer the Mastodons' early pressure with Reck, Moore and middle blocker
Grace Cooney contributing kills. PFW tied the set at 10-10 and moved ahead 11-10, but Oakland responded with a Hosford kill, a libero
Kalli Cook service ace and later a Stern kill to keep the set tight through the middle stages. Oakland moved in front 20-17 after back-to-back points involving Frias and a PFW attack error, then traded points late until Riley Rosneck's kill and a block by the Mastodons closed the set for the home side.
Oakland recovered from a slow start and later led 20-18, but PFW closed the second set with seven straight points to win it 25-20. Earlier, Oakland fell behind 7-1 before Moore delivered two kills around Mastodons attack errors to cut the score to 8-6. After trailing 10-7, Oakland worked back to a 10-10 tie on kills from Cooney and Hosford and an attack error, then moved ahead 12-11 after another Hosford kill and a PFW error. Moore added kills that put Oakland in front 15-14 and 16-15, and a block by Frias and Stern later gave Oakland a 20-18 advantage before PFW's final run.
Oakland built an 8-5 lead in the third set with early kills from Frias, Moore, Reck and Hosford, but PFW won the next four points and later used another four-point stretch to move ahead 13-9. Hosford stopped that second stretch with a kill from Stern, and Reck later added kills with Oakland down 15-11 and 21-13. Reck and Cooney combined on a block for Oakland's 12th point, and Hosford followed Reck's late finish with her fifth kill to make it 21-14. Cooney put down Oakland's final kill from Stern, but the Mastodons scored the last three points to take the set 25-15.
The Golden Grizzlies have clinched a spot in the 2026 HL Volleyball Tournament, hosted by Wright State. They have yet to see what seed and who they will face next week.
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.
