The Oakland Golden Grizzlies volleyball fell 0-3 to start their season as they traveled to Manhattan, Kansas for the Kansas State Invitational over the weekend.

Losing 3-0 in all of their matches, Oakland competed against Oregon State on Friday followed by #22 Kansas State and UC Irvine on Saturday.

Oregon State defeated the Golden Grizzlies in three straight sets with scores of 18-25, 15-25 and 19-25. Alli Kirk had 15 digs and Alissa Valentine 22 assists in the loss.

On Saturday, Oakland faced the ranked Kansas State Wildcats, losing in three straight sets as well to the tournament hosts. With set scores of 25-18, 25-13 and 25-19; Oakland managed to match ferocity to start the match, but fell short as the match continued.

Later in the evening, Oakland fell to UCI in three straight sets as well, with scores of 25-17, 25-22 and 27-25.

“Losing matches can be, when used correctly, a tremendous help to a team,” said Head Coach Rob Beam. “We have a much clearer idea of what we need to do to play at a high level and our team will be extremely motivated during training.”

Beam said that he feels the teams serve and serve receive games need to be improved upon in relation to their opponents.

“We are going to train those areas and I expect a significant improvement this coming weekend,” Beam said.

Despite the slow start to Oakland’s season, the Golden Grizzlies shined in other ways as Meghan Bray became the school’s all-time career leader in kills. With 28 on the day, Bray now stands at 1,118 career kills in her three-year career at Oakland.

“Our expectations for the 2012 team were and continue to be high,” Beam said. “This team has the talent to contend for a Summit League Championship and playing in a Top 100 event like the one at K-State serves as strong preparation for that level of play.”

Oakland was the underdog heading into the tournament.

“When you go into a tournament knowing you’re going to be opening up your season playing a Pac-12 and Big-12 school, adrenaline is obviously pumping,” senior middle hitter Brittany Holbrook said.

Holbrook shared a team high of six kills in Oakland’s loss to Oregon State along with Bray and Amanda Baker.

Oakland will host the Golden Grizzlies Invitational this weekend. Toledo, Eastern Illinois and Iowa will all travel to the Athletics Center O’Rena for play. The Golden Grizzlies will play three games, one against each team, with the first starting on Friday against Toledo at 7 p.m.

“We have all of the tools and potential to be great, but the focus this week is utilizing those tools for game time for a consistent amount of time, playing hard to the best of our ability, competitively,” Holbrook said.

There is history between Oakland, Toldeo and Iowa from last season.

“We lost to both teams in close matches around this time last year,” Holbrook said. “They absolutely have their work cut out for them when they step in the O’Rena this weekend.”

Oakland also faces Central Michigan on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.

 

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Contact Sports Editor Damien Dennis via email at [email protected] or follow on him on Twitter @djdennisOU