Volleyball

The Oakland volleyball team had a pair of road matches this past weekend, one on Friday, Oct. 12 and another on Saturday, Oct. 13.

On Friday, the team traveled to Chicago to face off against the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) Flames in a Horizon League matchup. UIC came into this match with an 11-7 total record and a 4-2 Horizon League record, one of the better teams in the conference.

The match was a domination from UIC, as after the first set where Oakland won 26-24, the Flames rallied back to win three sets in a row. Jamie Walling led the team in kills with 18, and Aleksandra Malek was close behind with 15 kills. Krysteena Davis had a solid defensive game, recording nine blocks.

The next day, the volleyball team traveled to Milwaukee to face the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers. After dropping the first two sets, the Golden Grizzlies had a tough road to victory, but ended up winning the next two sets.

In the final set, the Panthers were able to just narrowly win, with a score of 21-19. Walling once again led the team in kills with 23, and Davis put together another solid game with six blocks.

The volleyball team has about a week of rest before their next match on Saturday, Oct. 20 against Youngstown State in Ohio. The next time the Golden Grizzlies return to the blacktop is on Friday, Oct. 26 for the Childhood Cancer Awareness game against Milwaukee at 6 p.m..

Women’s Tennis

It was a good weekend for the women’s tennis team at the Toledo Invite. Despite some singles matches being postponed due to rainy conditions, the Golden Grizzlies were still able to win five singles matches and win two out of three doubles matches on the first day of competition.

Dasha Artamonova had an impressive performance, winning a singles match and doubles match on the first day, and repeating that performance on the second day.

Overall, the team was able to outright win two doubles flights and one singles flight. The pairing of Ava Thielman and Samantha Galloway took the first doubles flight, and Artamonova and Sofia Borcuti took the third doubles flight. Alexandra Whall was also able to win the fourth singles flight.

With Thielman tied for first in the first singles flight, the Golden Grizzlies were able to tie the host school, Toledo, with four flight winners each.

Women’s soccer

Attempting to build upon back to back 0-0 ties, the women’s soccer team traveled to Milwaukee to face the Panthers on Saturday, Oct. 13. The Golden Grizzlies were unable to stop the 12-1 Panthers from scoring, as they lost 3-1.

Milwaukee scored two unanswered goals in the first 28 minutes, but Oakland responded when defender Ashley Postma forced a turnover and scored a goal, beating a lone Milwaukee defender.

The Panthers responded in three short minutes, scoring their third and final goal of the game. This loss moves the Golden Grizzlies’ record to 1-10-3 on the season with three games remaining in the season.

The women’s soccer team has their next and final home game on Saturday, Oct. 20 against the UIC Flames. This match against UIC is also senior night for the Golden Grizzlies team.