Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
Oakland
Volleyball Escapes with a 3-2 Victory Over Oakland
10/7/2008 9:48:08 PM | Volleyball
Eagles win their 21st consecutive match versus the Golden Grizzlies
Box score.
ROCHESTER, Mich. — The Eastern Michigan University volleyball team continued its domination of Oakland University, posting a 3-2 victory (26-24, 18-25, 25-16, 24-26, 15-8) Tuesday evening, Oct. 7, in non-conference action here at the O’Rena. Senior outside hitter Hayvolla Leite (Paraiba, Brazil-Indian Hills CC) paced the EMU offense with a match-best 18 kills and seven digs along with a .277 attack percentage (18-5-47) in the victory.
With the win the Eagles improve to 8-11 on the season and push their winning streak over the Golden Grizzlies to 21 consecutive matches dating back to Oct. 15, 1977. On the other side of the court Oakland falls to 4-14 on the year.
The EMU offense, which hit a solid .224 for the match, saw junior Victoria Randolph (Cincinnati, Ohio-Mount Notre Dame) post a double-double with 16 kills and 18 digs. Junior Jennifer Swartz (Canton, Mich.-Westland John Glenn) chipped in 14 kills of her own, with freshman Ashley Mason (Eastlake, Ohio-Lake Catholic) adding 49 assists and three kills.
For Oakland, Amy Golem had 15 kills and 15 digs, with Jenny Jones recording 12 kills. Setter Stephanie Parkin had 29 assists on the night.
In the first set, Eastern would race off to an 8-5 advantage before Oakland would cut into the deficit to one, 8-7. The Green and White would retain the lead until the home standing Golden Grizzlies would pull ahead, 13-12, on a Golem service ace. OU would build a two-point cushion before EMU stormed back to 19-18 lead that it would never relinquish en route to the 26-24 victory.
The second stanza saw Oakland roll off the first five points of the set before EMU would roll back within a point at 7-6. The Grizzlies would not be fazed though, cruising to the 25-18 win.
Oakland struggled offensively in the third set, committing four errors and just eight kills. EMU on the other hand notched 15 kills to just six errors on its way to a 25-16 win. Oakland would take the fourth frame by a score of 26-24 to force a deciding fifth set.
In that final showdown, Oakland jumped out to an early 3-0 led before EMU rolled off a trio of points to knot the score at 3-3. The sides would trade points until The Eagles closed out the set and the match on a 10-3 run.
Eastern Michigan now puts its unblemished 2-2 Mid-American Conference record on the line this weekend, with a pair of road contests against Central Michigan, Oct. 7, and Ohio, Oct. 9. First serve for both matches is set for 7 p.m.
