TOLEDO, OH - Toledo's 2008 campaign came to an end on Friday evening with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-15) setback at the hands of No. 1 seed Western Michigan at the SeaGate Centre in downtown Toledo. The No. 8 seed Rockets concluded their season with a 14-17 overall record, while the Broncos improved to 24-4 with their sixth-straight victory over UT.
WMU will face No. 5 Bowling Green (25-8) in the semifinals at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Junior OH Stephanie Kersting led the Rockets' offensively with 10 kills, while junior MB Lyndsey Holt notched seven terminations and a team-best .316 attack mark. Senior libero Lori Ruth tallied a team-high 15 digs.
Sophomore OH Michelle Moore paced WMU's attack with match-best 15 kills and was the only Bronco to reach double figures in kills. libero Caitlin Strimel collected a match-high 16 digs.
“Western Michigan received our serve well and they played stronger as the match progressed,” Toledo Head Coach Kent Miller. “We were matching that but then we gave up a couple of streaks and couldn't get any runs for ourselves. We did some good things offensively but our passing was really sporadic and we couldn't really get anything going.”
Toledo held an early lead in the first set, 5-4, but WMU went on a 4-0 run with four kills from four different players to take the lead for good at 8-5. The Rockets did cut the lead to one, 17-16, but WMU closed the set on a 8-1 run with Strimel at the service line and Moore delivering three kills, 25-17.
WMU held Toledo to a .024 attack percentage in the set with eight kills and seven errors. The Broncos hit only .189, but did register 14 kills. Kersting notched five of UT's kills and tallied a .400 hitting mark.
WMU took an early two-point lead in the second set, 3-1, but UT came back to take a 7-5 advantage. The Broncos quickly rattled off three straight points though to regain the lead, 8-7. The Rockets tied the score four times, but couldn't regain their advantage. The Broncos finally built a cushion with a 5-0 run, 16-11. The Rockets made one final push to pull within two on a pair of kills from All-MAC Freshman Team member Amber DeWeerdt, 22-20, but a service error ended the run and WMU closed out the set at 25-22.
Toledo improved its hitting mark to .159, but WMU jumped to .244 to offset UT's increased efficiency. Kersting again led the Rockets with four kills with junior MB Lyndsey Holt and DeWeerdt collecting three apiece.
The Broncos surged to a 9-2 run to open the third set and end any thoughts of a Rocket comeback. The closest UT was able to come the rest of the way was five points at 11-6. WMU's offense stepped it up in the third set with 17 kills and just one error in 32 attempts for a .500 attack percentage, while Toledo hit .162 with 10 kills. Senior RSH Shannon Strachan led UT with four kills in her final contest as a Rocket.
