At the OU Credit Union O’rena on Sept. 9, the Oakland volleyball team battled fiercely against the Missouri–Kansas City Roos. However, the Golden Grizzlies suffered defeat, bringing their season record to 4-5.
“I feel like tonight was frustrating,” OU head coach Krista Rice said. “We made some uncharacteristic errors. They came at times when Kansas City was pushing back, and we didn’t make adjustments to overcome those.”
OU opened up the first set decisive against the Roos. Although the Roos retained a small lead early, the Grizzlies kept fighting back.
The Roos would eventually go on a 5-2 run, bringing their lead to 13-10. However, the Grizzlies answered with their own 4-1 run, tying up the game and leading to a Roo timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the Grizzlies continued their run, scoring two more points before another Roo timeout.
Following the second timeout, the Grizzlies returned to the court with a lot of energy, scoring three consecutive points and pushing the lead to 22-17, their largest lead of the night. The Roos responded with their third timeout, but the Grizzlies won the first set with a score of 25-21.
The start of the second set featured a lot of back-and-forth scoring between the Grizzlies and the Roos. UMKC took multiple small two-point leads, but the Grizzlies kept answering, tying the game up at every opportunity.
The stalemate between the two teams finally broke. After some clever offensive sets, OU took their largest lead of the set at 17-15. Despite the OU lead, the Roos pushed back, taking a 21-18 lead before a Grizzly timeout.
After two quick kills by Patti Cesarini and Anna Nie, the Grizzlies returned the game to a tie. However, the Grizzlies tie would not last long, as the Roos went on a four-point run to end the set as victors.
UKMC entered the third set aggressively on offense and defense, jumping out to a 4-0 lead. Despite the Grizzlies’ attempts to bring the set closer, the Roos slowly kept improving their lead, bringing the game to 17-10.
After the timeout, the Roos stepped on the gas and never let go. UKMC quickly took a 21-11 lead, a lead too large for the Grizzlies to overcome, making the Roos the winners of set three with a score of 25-16, leading the match two sets to one.
Entering the fourth set, both teams stayed close in score until the Grizzlies started to pull away with a 15-12 lead. The Roos responded with a 5-1 run, bringing the lead back in their favor. However, the Grizzlies swiftly answered, tying the game at 18-18.
Despite this, the Roos kept up the pressure, going on a 3-0 run, giving them a 21-18 lead. Minutes later, the Roos would score match point with a score of 25-21, making UKMC the winners with a final score of 3-1.
“Tonight’s game doesn’t impact our goals for the rest of the season,” Rice said. “We’re taking this loss as a learning opportunity — we got to get back to work. We have one more match to get better preparing ahead of conference play.”
The Grizzlies will appear next on Sept. 15 at Davies Gym in Carbondale, Illinois, where they will square off with the UT Martin Skyhawks. In-conference play will begin on Sept. 19 against the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons on the road.
