Spandex and speedos filled the O’rena on Thursday night for a Horizon League volleyball showdown between Oakland and the Milwaukee Panthers. Oakland (6-9, 0-1) fell in the fifth set to Milwaukee (3-10, 1-0) in both teams’ league opener.

The team got off to a rough start by losing the first two matches 21-25 to fall into an early deficit. That did not put a damper on the game, however, as the Golden Grizzlies came back after halftime to win the next two sets 25-20 and 25-22.

During the deciding fifth set, Oakland held the lead until Milwaukee tied up the score at 13. In the end Milwaukee edged out Oakland 15-13 and captured the match three sets to two.

“Milwaukee attacked us in a certain way,” Oakland head coach Rob Beam said. “Our players did a really good job adjusting… We had a good flow as the game went on.”

Melissa Deatsch turned in another dominating performance for the Golden Grizzlies, recording 18 kills and 14 digs. Libero Alli Gutschow had 19 digs on the evening. The whole team worked their way out from the rough start.

The energy in the O’rena kept them going. Oakland’s men’s swim and dive team and their speedos joined the Grizz in keeping the crowd alive throughout the match.

“There was great energy coming from the fans,” Beam said. “We had a homecourt advantage that we just needed to harness earlier on.”