Records fall as Oakland spikes UMKC

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Sophomore Meghan Bray set the season record for kills (360) and senior Brittany Dunn broke the career record for sets played (407) as the Oakland University volleyball team (17-13, 12-6 Summit) finished the 2010 season with a 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 25-19, 25-21) win over UMKC (9-21, 6-12 Summit) Saturday evening.

The Golden Grizzlies finished in a tie for third with Southern Utah and South Dakota State.  Unfortunately, OU lost the tiebreaker to both teams to see their season come to a close.  Oakland set the school record for Summit League wins (12) and tied the school record for wins at NCAA Division I (17).

“I’m very proud of our team tonight,” said head coach Rob Beam.  “They played extremely well and showed tremendous spirit.”

In the first set, UMKC came out strong, jumping to a 6-2 lead.  The Kangaroos had the lead at 10-7, before Oakland came back with four straight points to make it 11-10.

Kayla Riggs got a kill to tie the match at 11-11.  The Golden grizzlies went on a 13-7 run to lead 24-18.  UMKC scored four straight points to cut the margin to two, 24-22.  A bomb from Bray gave the first set to Oakland.

In the second set, the Kangaroos again started strong with a 6-3.  OU countered with a 6-3 run, tying the match on a spike by Bray.  UMKC forged ahead 13-11.

The Golden Grizzlies received kills from Bray and junior Ashley Nevelle to make it 13-13.  The two teams battled back-and-forth with Oakland taking a 21-19 lead.  The Kangaroos went on a 4-1 run to lead 23-22.

Junior Jenna Lange smashed the ball off the block to knot it at 23 apiece.  UMKC picked up two kills to tie the match at one set each.

In the third set, the teams traded points until it was 3-3.  Junior Allison Bell recorded two kills to spark a 4-0 run by the Golden Grizzlies.  Oakland extended the lead to 17-12.

UMKC picked up two kills to close the gap to three, 17-14.  The Golden Grizzlies closed out on an 8-5 run, ended on a monster blast from Bray.

In the fourth set, Oakland jumped to an early 5-1 lead.  The Kangaroos bounced right back with four straight points to tie the set at 5-5.  OU responded with an 8-4 run to go up 13-9.

UMKC scored twice to make it 13-11.  Following a UMKC service error, Demetria Williams slammed one home to make it 14-12.  The Golden Grizzlies scored four straight points to effectively end the match.  The Kangaroos closed to three, 24-21 before freshman Audrey Wilson smashed one off a block for the win.

For Oakland, Bray had a solid all-around performance with 24 kills, 12 digs and five blocks.  Her 360 kills broke the single-season school record (NCAA Division I) of 348 set in 2005 by Heather Lippert.  Wilson had 10 kills and hit a career-high of .556.

Nevell had 48 assists and 12 digs while sophomore Alli Kirk and freshman Becca Means had 10 digs each.  Dunn had 30 digs, her 27^th straight double-digit dig performance.  In addition to playing the most sets career in school history (407), she finished with 1448 digs, second in OU history and 11^th in league history.

Category: Oakland University