Oct. 7, 2005

Final Stats

Kent, OH - Toledo (11-6, 4-1 MAC) maintained a share of first place in the MAC's West Division with a 3-2 (24-30, 30-26, 30-22, 24-30, 15-9) triumph tonight at Kent State (6-10, 2-3 MAC). With the victory, the Rockets remained tied with Eastern Michigan (10-5, 4-1 MAC) who registered a 3-1 home win over Western Michigan (9-6, 2-3 MAC).

Junior OH Kate Bean paced Toledo's offense with a match-high 24 kills and a .255 ATK%. Other Rockets in double figures in kills were sophomore RSH Sarah Kreher (14 kills, .394 ATK%), senior OH Chelsey Poquette (12 kills) and senior MB Kelsey Culver (10 kills, .391 ATK%). Sophomore S Emi Holsclaw quarterbacked UT's offense to a .249 hitting mark while registering 52 assists and a .255 ATK% of her own.

Five Rockets registered double figures in digs with junior libero Lora Sarich pacing UT with 16 digs. Culver dominated the net defensively with a season-high 10 blocks.

"It was a nice win for us on the road against a good opponent," said UT Head Coach Kent Miller, who registered his 100th career victory with the win. "Although we struggled at times I was really proud of how we responded. We dominated game five and it was a good overall team performance against a feisty Kent State. We slowed them down at times with some things we did and it was probably our best blocking match of the year."

The Rockets struggled out of the gate with just a .028 attack percentage in Game One. UT did take a 9-4 advantage, but the Flashes tied it at 9-9. After the Rockets went ahead 11-9, KSU took the lead at 13-11 and cruised to the win.

Bean helped Toledo rebound in Game Two with five kills and a .500 ATK% as the Rockets recorded a .406 team hitting mark. UT had to rally from a 14-8 deficit and scored the game's final five points for the win.

The Rockets' offensive prowess continued in the third game with a .341 ATK%. Bean's seven kills and .538 ATK% led UT, and Sarich notched a team-high seven digs.

Game Four saw Kent State slow Toledo down as UT was limited to a .173 ATK% and the Flashes improved to a .275 hitting mark. After falling behind 25-15, the Rockets rallied to within 26-23 but couldn't get any closer.

Toledo never trailed in the fifth game and took control by scoring three straight points to take a 10-6 lead and was never challenged after that. Bean led the way with four kills and a .571 ATK% to help UT register a .438 team mark.

Toledo now heads to Athens, OH tomorrow night to battle two-time defending MAC champion and No. 24-ranked Ohio (15-2, 5-0 MAC). The Bobcats registered a 3-0 (30-26, 30-23, 30-23) victory over Ball State tonight to extend their homecourt win streak to 33 matches.