TOLEDO, OH ? After nearly posting a victory in the first set, Toledo dropped a 3-0 (27-25, 25-19, 25-14) decision to Ball State Thursday night at St. Ursula Academy. The defeat was the Rockets' 42nd consecutive loss to the Cardinals and leaves UT with an 8-8 overall mark and 0-3 MAC record. BSU improves to 6-11 overall and 0-3 in the conference.
Senior RSH Shannon Strachan paced the Rocket attack with 10 kills and a .250 hitting mark, while freshman OH Amber DeWeerdt tallied a team-high nine digs.
Junior Elaina Kakatolis led the Cardinals with a match-high 12 kills and a .647 attack percentage and played a big part in the visitors' .333 team attack percentage. Sophomore libero Alyssa Rio paced BSU's defense with a match-high 15 digs.
UT held a 10-6 advantage early in the first set but saw the Cardinals come back to take a 13-12 advantage. Neither team led by more than two points the rest of the way and the Rockets had two set points following kills from Strachan and junior OH Stephanie Kersting. Ball State held UT off though and won the set on Christie Waters' ace and a kill from Rio.
Toledo fell behind early in the second set but climbed within 16-15 before the Cardinals went on a 6-1 run to secure the victory. BSU led the entire third set and a 9-3 spurt put the Rockets at a 17-9 disadvantage.
Toledo returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 4 when it hits the road to face Akron for a 7:00 p.m. matchup at James A. Rhodes Arena. The Zips will travel to Buffalo on Friday evening before hosting the Rockets.
