It was an oddly quiet week for athletic teams at Oakland University, but the men’s soccer team, women’s soccer team and volleyball teams all competed. Here is a breakdown of how all three teams fared this week.
Volleyball
The Oakland volleyball team enjoyed a week full of home matches this week. Head coach Krista Rice and the team hosted three matches, winning two of them.
Purdue Fort Wayne was the first victim, as the Golden Grizzlies outlasted the Mastodons in five sets. The first three sets were extremely competitive, but PFW edged out Oakland in the third set.
However, it was all Rice and the Golden Grizzlies from then on out. Oakland outscored Purdue Fort Wayne 40-21 in the final two sets to take home the victory.
Three days later, Oakland hosted Horizon League title contender Northern Kentucky at the OU Credit Union O’rena.
NKU won the first two sets, and it seemed Oakland would drop the match, but the Golden Grizzlies fought their way back, winning the last three sets to steal the match from the Norse.
On Saturday, though, Oakland ran into 11-3 Wright State, and the Raiders quickly knocked off the Golden Grizzlies in four sets.
Oakland now sits at 15-11 overall and 9-5 in the conference, with four games left in the regular season. Rice and the team will take on Cleveland State in Ohio on Friday.
Women’s soccer
It was a light week for the women’s soccer team, which played just one match ahead of the soon-approaching league tournament.
The one match last week was against Detroit Mercy, but the Golden Grizzlies unfortunately dropped the rivalry matchup, 2-1, to end the season on a low note.
Putri Sazali was the lone goal scorer for Oakland. The goal came in the 40th minute to even the score at one goal each after the Titans opened the scoring just three minutes in.
Detroit’s Hailey Matthews found the back of the net in the 67th minute, though, and that was enough to put Oakland away. The Golden Grizzlies finished the regular season with a 5-6-7 overall record and a 3-2-5 mark in the conference.
Oakland’s three league wins and five draws earned the Golden Grizzlies 14 points, just one point shy of a spot in the league tournament.
It appears the women’s soccer team’s season is now over.
Men’s soccer
The men’s soccer team also only played in one match this week. However, Eric Pogue and the Golden Grizzlies dropped a costly match to Green Bay.
Oakland’s Mikey Ketteman got the scoring started in the 34th minute, but Green Bay scored the next three goals to defeat the visiting Golden Grizzlies.
With the loss, Oakland fell to 5-3 in conference play. It was a costly loss for Pogue and the Golden Grizzlies, which are firmly in contention for the regular-season league title.
At the time of this writing, Oakland still leads the league in points with 15, but Green Bay, IUPUI and Detroit Mercy all trail Oakland by just one point.
The Golden Grizzlies host Detroit Mercy on Wednesday, Nov. 1, in the regular-season finale before the league tournament, which begins on Sunday, Nov. 5.