Friday, November 04, 2005

In front of 1,031 fans at the Athletics-Recreation Center, Valparaiso put together one of their best performances of the season, downing Oakland 30-13, 30-17, 30-27 Friday night. The crowd was easily the largest this season at the ARC.

The Crusaders came out smoking in game one, opening a 23-7 lead, getting four kills from Amy Palash (Winfield, Ill./Saint Francis) in a 17-point win. It was more of the same in game two, with four more kills coming from Palash and using a 16-4 run to finish off the Golden Grizzlies.

Palash finished with a match-high 10 kills to go with 10 digs, her 14th double-double of the season. Katie Bova (Milwaukee, Wis./Divine Savior Holy Angels) added a double-double of her own with 31 assists and 10 digs. The serve was also as a valuable weapon for Valpo, as the Brown and Gold picked up 11 aces, including four from Bova.

Defensively, Jessie Fox continued her strong play with a match-high six blocks, her seventh straight game with at least four blocks. The junior stands eighth on the Crusaders all-time block list with 273, and her 118 blocks this season are tenth-best in program history.

Oakland (5-23, 4-8 Mid-Con) struggled offensively all night, hitting a meager .025 for the match. Heather Lippert led the Golden Grizzlies with eight kills and six blocks.

Valpo (22-6, 11-1 Mid-Con) will take the rest of the weekend off before returning to action next Friday at 7:00 p.m. against Centenary. The Crusaders will close their conference slate Sunday, November 13 with a 2:00 p.m. match against Oral Roberts before hosting the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament November 19-20. Friday and Sunday's matches will be carried live on 95.1 FM, WVUR, and online at www.valpo.edu/athletics.

View the box score here