Glendale, AZ- Less than 20 hours after their back and forth, five set defeat against OUAZ the Oaks were right back on the court against another Arizona rival, the ACU Firestorm. Yet, despite being on the road and coming off a tough loss Menlo was clearly locked in and looking for a win. The Oaks dominated winning in three straight sets and outplayed the Firestorm across many key statistical categories. Menlo would end up with more kills, blocks, assists, aces and digs enroute to strong showing from the entire team!

Saole-Su'e Sets the Tone

Maya Saole-Su'e has been a staple of coach Denise Sheldon's lineup at the middle blocker position. With the team looking for a win after back to back, close losses, Saole-Su'e stuffed the statsheet across three sets. Saole-Su'e posted a team high 10 kills along with two service aces, four assists, four blocks and four digs. Simply put, ACU had no answer for the sophomore out of Kapolei, Hawaii. Heading into the home stretch of conference play Saole-Su'e currently sits at third in the entire GSAC for both hitting percentage and total blocks. The Oaks must feel confident knowing they have one of the premier middle blockers in the entire conference!

Oaks Near the Top of the GSAC

As Menlo prepares to return home to Haynes-Prim Pavilion the team will begin their final few games of conference play. With only five games left before the playoffs the Oaks will look to keep climbing the leaderboards of GSAC stats. Offensively, Menlo has been one of the top teams in the conference. They sit at third in hitting percentage and are second in both assists and kills. Defensively they are also sitting among the top three in the conference. Not only do they lay claim to the third most blocks in the conference but thanks to the high level play of libero Amey Rainaud-Hinds they are second in the conference for digs. As Menlo resides towards the top of various statistical categories the team will look to keep the momentum rolling.

Up Next…

With Arizona now in the rearview mirror, the Oaks return to Haynes-Prim Pavilion for back to back home matches against Vanguard on October 13th  and Hope International on the 14th. Vanguard currently sits atop the conference with an impressive 8-0 record in conference play and a 16 match win streak. The Oaks were unable to defeat the Lions on the road but now have an opportunity to make a massive statement with the conference's top team coming to town.