ROCHESTER, Mich. – After starting the day dropping straight sets to #13 ranked Ohio State (13-25,20-25,16-25), the Eastern Illinois University volleyball team looked to bounce back, but came up empty-handed in a five set loss to Oakland (25-23,25-18,15-25,17-25,13-15) to begin play in the Oakland Invitational.

OSU 3, EIU 0

Facing a team from the Big Ten, which is considered to be one of the top conferences nationally for volleyball in NCAA Division I (currently with eight teams in latest top-25 RPI rankings), the Panthers knew that they had a tough task ahead of them.

In the first set, the Panthers struggled to get anything going offensively, and the Buckeyes took advantage with a 9-0 run and sealed up the first set 25-13.
Again, the Buckeyes rallied early on in the set jumping out to a commanding 13-6 lead from back-to-back kills by OSU's Katie Mitchell. The Panthers closed the gap to as little as four following a Josie Winner kill, but the Buckeyes held off a late Panther charge to take the second set by a 25-20 advantage.

EIU was able to give themselves an early lead on two separate occasions to begin the third set with winners from Maria Brown and Chelsea Lee. OSU began to gain their rhythm towards the middle of the set after a Panther error put the game at 18-9 in favor of the Buckeyes. The door looked to be slightly open for a Panther comeback, but OSU's Taylor Sandbothe ended the game with a kill at 25-16, giving the Buckeyes a 3-0 match victory.

Brown notched her first double-double of the season, finishing the game with 13 kills and 15 digs.

Coach Wolinski was noted in the postgame saying, "Ohio State is very strong. We had to overcome some injuries and illness (to our team) during that match. Maria Brown played a great game with 13 kills and 15 digs, and Stephanie Wallace was solid in the back row for us."
 
Oakland 3, EIU 2

The challenge would not get any easier for the Panthers after playing nationally ranked Ohio State in their tournament opener, the Panthers were set to face tournament host Oakland to conclude their first day at the Oakland Invitational.

It is never an easy task facing a team on their home court, and the Panthers knew they would have to take the momentum early on to take out the crowd factor. Both teams would trade leads all throughout the first set, until the game was tied at 23-23. Back-to-back kills from Winner and Brown gave the Panthers the set 25-23.

Much like the first set, no team would be able to gain an early advantage over the other during the early stages of the second set. A pair of kills from Lee was the spark that EIU needed, as Allie Hueston finished off the set with a kill of her 25-18, EIU.

Things were going in the right direction for the Panthers at the beginning of the third set, but the Golden Grizzlies would take the momentum back as they would go on a pair of three point and four point runs, and took the third set 15-25.

After Taylor Smith tied the fourth set up at 6-6, Oakland began to take over the rest of the set. Again, Oakland would go on short little runs, but EIU had no answer of their own as the Golden Grizzlies earned the fourth set by a 17-25 decision.

Both teams battled back and forth for the all deciding fifth set. Hueston was able to tie the game up at 13-13, but a kill by Oakland's Jessica Dodd and a Panther error sealed up the fifth set (15-13) and the match, 3-2, in favor of the Golden Grizzlies.

Smith finished with her second career triple-double with totals of 13 kills, 20 assists, and 11 digs. Marah Bradbury nabbed her first double-double of the season, tallying 21 assists and 15 digs.

The Panthers are back in action tomorrow (Sept. 19) at the Oakland Invitational, where they will square off against Dartmouth at 11:00 a.m., and conclude with a match against Western Michigan at 3:30 p.m.