By Teddy Rydquist
Leader Staff Writer
Five days after traveling to Lake Orion and picking up a four-set victory over the rival Dragons, the Oxford Wildcats volleyball team welcomed the Stoney Creek Cougars to the Ian Smith Gymnasium on September 22 for an Oakland Activities Association (OAA) Red Division match.
One of the top teams in the division, the Cougars dispatched Oxford in three sets, handing the Wildcats their first OAA loss of the campaign. The first set ended up being the closest, 25-22, with scores of 25-20 and 25-19 rounding out the match.
Looking to right the ship and return to the win column, Oxford faced the Bloomfield Hills Black Hawks in an away match two days later, Thursday, September 24.
With Bloomfield Hills winless in league play, the Wildcats overpowered the Black Hawks with a three-set sweep, 25-19, 25-17, 27-25.
These two programs would soon meet again, however, this time in Oxford, with Bloomfield and the Farmington Hills Mercy Marlins coming to town for a three-team meet this past Saturday. This event was originally scheduled as a quad, but a couple of other schools ended up dropping out.
Just as they had earlier in the week, the Wildcats did not allow the Black Hawks to win a set, prevailing, 25-20, 25-18.
Mercy, who boasts an unblemished 10-0 record thus far and is consistently one of the state’s top programs, topped Oxford in two sets, with 25-16 serving as the score for both.
Factoring all this action into the equation, the Wildcats own a 6-5 record in 2020, including a 3-1 mark in OAA Red play, and are just one game back of the Clarkston Wolves and Troy Colts, who are 3-0 and 2-0, respectively, in the loss column.
Next up is a home date with the West Bloomfield Lakers on Thursday at 7 p.m. West Bloomfield was 0-9 (0-2 OAA Red) entering their away match with Bloomfield Hills on Tuesday.