Oct. 8, 2005

Final Stats

ATHENS, OH - Toledo (11-7, 4-2 MAC) suffered a 3-0 (30-23, 30-22, 30-22) setback at the hands of No. 24 Ohio (16-2, 6-0 MAC) tonight. With the defeat, the Rockets fall into a tie for second place in the MAC's West Division with Ball State and are one game behind Eastern Michigan.

Senior MB Kelsey Culver led the Rockets with 14 kills with sophomore RSH Sarah Kreher registering a team-high .412 ATK% on 8-1-17 totals. Junior libero Lora Sarich led UT defensively with 17 digs.

"We played well at times but we couldn't sustain the level of play that we needed to compete against a quality opponent like Ohio," Toledo Head Coach Kent Miller said. "We competed hard but we need to play at a high level for longer periods of time. I think it would have helped us some if we would have relaxed more and tried to go after them and not been as stressed."

The two teams exchanged points in the opening frame when Ohio ran off three consecutive points to grab a 9-6 lead. The Bobcats added a 4-0 run later to grab a 19-12 lead but Toledo countered with a 10-4 run to close to within one at 23-22. Ohio would not let go of its lead, though, scoring seven of the final eight points to take the first game 30-23.

The Bobcats jumped out a big lead in the second frame, gaining a 10-2 edge. Ohio continued to add to the lead, grabbing a 25-10 lead following a Stephanie Blackburn kill. Toledo made the match interesting, running off eight straight points to close the gap to 25-18. In the end, the Bobcats were too much, taking the second frame 30-22.

The third and final game saw starting setter Savanah Parra go down with an injury early in the frame but Ohio marched on behind the play of Jill DeArmond. Parra left the game with the Bobcats leading 10-7 but Ohio was able to increase its lead to 16-9 moments later.

The Bobcats kept the pressure on the rest of the way with the Rockets getting no closer than five points.

Toledo returns to action on Friday, Oct. 14 with an 8:00 p.m. contest at Northern Illinois.