MACOMB, Ill. - Erin Frick led Western Illinois with 10 kills and Megan Toczek had eight kills, but it wasn't enough as Oral Roberts had three players with double-digit kill numbers to defeat the Westerwinds in three sets (27-25, 25-20, 25-20), Saturday.

"Erin played very well," Western Illinois head coach Kym McKay said. "She led us in kills and over the past three matches she has played the best that we needed her to play. She stayed composed and aggressive and hopefully she can continue to do that because we need her to."

The Golden Eagles (11-5, 5-1 The Summit League) and the Westerwinds (6-11, 2-2 The Summit League) matched one another point for point in the first set until 14-14 when ORU took off on a 4-0 run to 18-14. Western earned two points back off a kill by Frick and an error by the Golden Eagles, but ORU extended its lead to as many as five points at 21-16. Down five at set point (24-19), Western Illinois' Frick had another kill, ORU had two attack errors and Toczek had a kill to come within one point at 23-24 and force Oral Roberts into a timeout. After the timeout, Wester came out to tie it up and take the lead off back-to-back Toczek kills at 25-24. A kill by Janete Ferreira tied the set before Joanita Souza put down a kill and Ferreira served up an ace for a 27-25 ORU victory.

"Oral Roberts is a veteran team and they know when and how they need to score points," McKay said. "We've been watching them play for four years and we did not do a great job of playing the mental game that ORU plays. They made some runs halfway through and we would lose confidence in those two or three points. We played a steady game and when ORU made their push we never did anything to push back."

The Westerwinds continued the second set looking for a win as 10 ties and three lead changes took place. The final tie occurred at 18-18 when Oral Roberts took off with the lead and finished the set at 25-20. The Golden Eagles out-hit Western in the set with a .243 team hitting percentage to the Westerwinds' .167.

In the third and final set of the evening, Oral Roberts jumped out to an early lead at 4-0 and the Westerwinds worked to tie up the set for the only time at 12-12. The Golden Eagles captured four straight points to earn back the lead and continued to the end with Western coming within two at 17-19, but were unable to close out the set.

Ellen Miller led Western in digs with 10 and Elise Crnjak had eight. In addition to her 10 kills, Frick was also a part of four of the team's six blocks. Senior Monique Houston recorded five kills and is now at 999 kills in her career.

The Summit League match was the final of five-straight at home for Western Illinois and the closing match of the Dig for the Cure weekend.

"We had a great turnout and a lot of pink in here," McKay explained. "The fans had fun with it and both visiting teams enjoyed the atmosphere and were excited to be a part of it. We need to see how much money we made for Susan G. Komen, but overall, I think it was a good weekend."

Western Illinois will continue conference competition in North and South Dakota as they face South Dakota State in Brookings, S.D., October 10 and North Dakota State in Fargo, N.D., October 4. Both matches are slated for a 7 p.m. start.

"When we controlled things on our side and had aggressive errors was when it was a one or two point game," McKay said. "Going into this weekend we are going to be on the road for the first time in four weeks. The Dakotas is a tough trip, but it will be nice to get away as a team. South Dakota State is a much better team then what they show on paper and North Dakota State is a tough one to beat. We can go up there and be competitive if we control things on our side."