Nov. 7, 2003

Box Score

Toledo, OH - Toledo (10-18, 5-9 MAC) battled hard tonight but fell to Ball State (13-13, 7-6 MAC) for the 33rd consecutive time with its 3-1 (33-31, 30-24, 26-30, 30-24) setback at Savage Hall.

Sophomore middle blocker Kelsey Culver (career-high 18 kills, one ace and two block assists) led the Rockets with 20 points. She was followed by junior outside hitter Rachel Mohler (17 kills and one ace) with 18 points and sophomore middle blocker Corrie Magnus (12 kills, two block solos and one block assist) with 14.5 points. Sophomore right-side hitter Chelsey Poquette and Magnus paced UT in attack percentage with .368 and .367 marks, respectively.

Freshman libero Lora Sarich led the Rockets on the defensive end with a career-high 34 digs to equal the second-most digs in a match in school history and the most since the 1992 campaign.

Ball State was led by sophomore Sarah Obras with 24.5 points (23 kills, three block assists) and freshman Kelly Cochran with 22 points (20 kills, one ace, two block assists). Junior Stephanie Keller added a match-high 41 digs to break her own Mid-American Conference record for most digs in a season.

"We let a great opportunity slip away by not winning the first game," UT Head Coach Kent Miller said. "Ball State was able to take advantage of that and carried that momentum over into the second game. I thought we played hard the entire match and we were right there in every game. We ran our offense and attacked the ball well, but Ball State played great defense and came up with big plays when they needed to."

The Rockets started the match strong and held an 18-11 lead in the first game before the Cardinals rallied to tie the contest at 29-29. UT held a three-point lead at 28-25 and had three game points before BSU pulled out the win. Mohler paced the Rocket attack in the first game with seven kills and a .308 ATK% with Culver adding five kills.

Ball State led throughout the second game en route its victory with Cochran leading the way with seven kills. UT fought back in the third game taking control early with a 14-7 advantage before BSU rallied to within 24-23. The Rockets fought off the Cardinals this time though thanks to two kills from Poquette and one each from Magnus and Culver. Culver led the way in the game with six kills as UT outhit BSU by a .261 - .191 margin.

The Rockets continued their strong offensive play in the fourth game by hitting .280 but were outdone by the Cardinals hitting an even better .314. BSU surged to a 13-7 lead and the closest UT could come was the rest of the way within four points .

Toledo returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 8 vs. Marshall (16-14, 6-7 MAC) with its final regular-season home match. Senior setter Carrie McCaw will be honored prior to the match in the Rockets' annual Senior Night ceremony.