The Blitz: Sept. 20, 2017

Men’s soccer

The Golden Grizzlies (2-5, 1-1 HL) took a 3-0 win Horizon League newcomer, IUPUI (0-5, 0-1 HL). Nyal Higgins scored the first goal of the night with a corner kick assisted by Noah Jensen.

Nebojsa Popovic scored the second goal of the night, Travis Harrington got his first career assist with a pinpoint pass to Austin Ricci; Ricci connected with the ball and scored the final goal of the night in the 78th minute.

Oakland will head to the University of Dayton on Sept. 19 to face the Rudy Flyers at 7 p.m ET.

Women’s Volleyball

Oakland volleyball (5-7) hosted the Golden Grizzlies Invitational Sept. 15-16 at the O’rena. The Golden Grizzlies split the invitational with a win over the Kent State Golden Flashes on the first day and suffered two losses on the final day against the Fort Wayne Mastodons and the undefeated Towson Tigers.

The Golden Grizzlies took their home opener by defeating Kent State (1-8) in three sets. Oakland has not lost a home opener since 2010, and the win over the Golden Flashes marked the seventh straight home opener win. Krysteena Davis led the way for the Black and Gold with 10 kills and one block. Darien Bandel followed Davis with nine kills and 10 digs. Sammie Condon got six kills, hit .455, had a service ace, three digs, one block and an assist. Newcomer Jamie Walling also recorded six kills and two blocks.

On the final day of the invitational, Oakland started off the day with a match against Fort Wayne (9-6) at noon. The Mastodons won the match 3-2 with Elizabeth Feurst scoring 10 kills against Oakland. Bandel responded for the Black and Gold with 18 kills and two blocks over Fort Wayne.

Later in the day the Golden Grizzlies faced off against the undefeated Towson Tigers (14-0) and were unable to come out on top, losing 2-3 after five sets. Jordan Lentz paved the way for Oakland with 39 assists, 14 kills, four kills and two blocks. Bandel was the lead scorer for the match hitting a match-high 22 kills and recorded seven digs. For defense, Darrin Rice recorded 23 digs and Lauren Domage got 10.

At the end of the Golden Grizzlies Invitational, Lentz and Bandel were named to the All-Tournament team.

The Golden Grizzlies will travel to Wisconsin to take on the Green Bay Phoenix Friday, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. ET.