Last weekend, the Oakland University women’s volleyball team traveled to Cleveland for their second tournament of the season at the Cleveland State Invitational. OU came out on top for their second tournament win of the season, with victories over Eastern Kentucky Friday and against Buffalo and Cleveland State Saturday.

Senior Defensive Specialist Alli Kirk was awarded the tournament MVP after averaging 6.5 digs per set over the weekend.

“This past weekend, I felt like I was able to feed off my teammates’ intensity and energy,” Kirk said. “We have been going to practice early for extra passing reps and our blocking and defense has been working very hard together and that is what made the Cleveland State Tournament such a success.”

The Golden Grizzlies began the tournament with a sweep of three straight sets against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels, improving their record to (4-4) on the season.

On Saturday, Oakland faced Buffalo in the second match of the tournament. The Golden Grizzlies once again won in three straight sets for their fifth victory of the season. With a record of (5-4) Oakland would conclude the tournament on Saturday evening, playing the host school Cleveland State.

Looking to capture their second tournament win of the young season, the Golden Grizzlies battled for five sets against the Cleveland State University Vikings, eventually coming out on top with a (15-9) victory in the fifth and final set of the match.

“This was a tremendous win for our program,” Head Coach Rob Beam told OUGrizzlies.com. “Cleveland State is an extremely good team and we had to compete at a championship level for two and a half hours. I am extremely proud of this team to win two preseason tournaments for the first time in program history.”

OU looks to continue their success with two upcoming games this week against Fort Wayne University and Western Illinois University Sept. 14 and Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. in the O’Rena.

Kirk, who was named the tournament’s MVP, feels really optimistic about the upcoming season.

“Each of my teams have had different strengths (and) what really makes Rob (Beam) special is his ability to maximize those strengths and get the most out of each group,” Kirk said. “I have found that each year the expectations raise higher and higher, and this year is no exception, we have so much talent and potential that the possibilities are limitless.”

Kirk also received the honor of being named The Summit League Defensive Player of the Week, the second in her Oakland career.

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Contact Staff Intern Adam Kujawski via email at [email protected]