TOLEDO, OH – Toledo travels to Muncie, IN for a matchup against Ball State on Thursday, Oct. 29 at 7:00 p.m. before returning home to host Akron on Saturday, Oct. 31 at 5:00 p.m. in Savage Arena. Both matches will be televised live on ESPN3 and can be seen on the WatchESPN app.
      The Midnight Blue and Gold split their matches last weekend with a 3-2 (27-25, 26-24, 25-13, 25-14, 15-6) victory over arch-rival Bowling Green on Friday and a 3-1 (25-16, 25-15, 16-25, 25-20) loss to Miami on Saturday.
      Toledo ranks among the league leaders in digs, ranking sixth in conference matches with 16.21 dps and fifth overall with 15.81 dps.
      The Rockets' defense is led by freshman libero Maurissa Leonard, who ranks second in the league with 5.49 dps in conference action. The Oregon, OH native was named the MAC West Defensive Player of the Week the first two weeks of conference play for her standout performances in the UT backcourt.
      A starter at libero for UT since early September, Leonard recorded a career-high 32 digs against WMU (Oct. 2) for the second time in league play.
      Sophomore MB Rachel Vidourek paces UT with a .307 attack percentage and 0.89 blocks per set. Vidourek's hitting mark ranks her sixth in the league.
      Sophomore OH Saige Thomas leads the team with 2.55 kps followed closely by Vidourek (2.44 kps) and junior RSH Mary O'Connor (2.15 kps).
      Thomas and Vidourek paced the team with 12 kills apiece last Friday in the Rockets' victory over the Falcons. Thomas also led UT's attack against the RedHawks, posting 13 terminations.
      Vidourek posted a team-high 13 blocks in UT's two matches last weekend, while freshman OH/S Carly Townsend followed with eight.
 
SCOUTING BALL STATE
      The Cardinals enter this week with a 5-5 league record after sweeping both Miami (Oct. 23) and Bowling Green (Oct. 24) in three sets at home last weekend.
      Junior OH Mackenzie Kitchel earned MAC West Division Offensive Player of the Week honors after leading BSU's attack with a match-high 12 kills against both the RedHawks and Falcons. She also notched a career-high .588 (12-2-17) attack percentage against BGSU.
 
SCOUTING AKRON
      The Zips split a pair of road contests last weekend with Saturday's 3-1 victory over Eastern Michigan following Friday's 3-1 setback to Central Michigan. Sophomore OH Anna Wenger posted a career-high 16 kills in the win over EMU.
      Akron tops the MAC with 1.66 service aces per set with seniors Kelsey Wilson (0.38/3rd), Dragana Micic (0.38/T-3rd) and Ashley Holder (0.30/10th) each ranking in the league's Top 10.

LEONARD ANCHORS BACKCOURT
      Freshman Maurissa Leonard has emerged as the Rockets' defensive leader after taking over as UT's starting libero on Sept. 5.
      Leonard leads UT with 4.69 dps and has tallied 30 or more digs on four occasions. She collected a season-high 32 digs versus Ball State (Sept. 24) and Western Michigan (Oct. 2) as well as 30 against Evansville (Sept. 5) and Youngstown State (Sept. 11).
      Leonard ranks second in the MAC with 5.49 dps in conference play.
 
VIDOUREK VITAL TO ATTACK
      Sophomore Rachel Vidourek led Toledo with a .390 attack percentage to go along with 2.33 kills per set in UT's matches vs. Bowling Green and Miami.
      She also tallied a team-high 1.44 blocks per set on the defensive side of the net. Vidourek dominated Toledo's attack against the Falcons by posting a .435 attack percentage and notching 12 kills. She also recorded a team-high six rejections at the net.
      On Saturday versus Miami, Vidourek posted a team-high .333 attack percentage and recorded nine terminations. She also paced UT defensively with a team-high seven rejections at the net.
      Vidourek has led the team in kills in 10 matches this season, and she has paced the team in blocks 11 times.
      A native of Oxford, OH, Vidourek transferred to UT after sitting out her freshman campaign at Big East Conference member Marquette. She tallied a .250 attack percentage to go along with 2.29 kills and 0.79 per set for the Rockets as a redshirt freshman.
 
ROCKETS IN MAC RANKINGS (as of 10/28)
      Rachel Vidourek ranks sixth in the MAC with a .299 ATK%...Maurissa Leonard is fifth with 4.69 dps...Alex Hines is fifth with 9.27 aps.
 
ROCKETS VS. THIS WEEK'S FOES
• Toledo opened conference play with a 2-3 loss to Ball state on Sept. 24 to drop the all-time series 7-62 versus the Cardinals.
• The Rockets lead their all-time series vs. Akron, 22-18, and have not defeated the Bobcats since the 1999 campaign.
 
A LOOK AHEAD
            UT will play its final two road contests of the season when it visits Northern Illinois (12-10, 8-2 MAC) on Friday, Nov. 6 and Western Michigan (10-15, 6-4 MAC) on Saturday, Nov. 7.
The Rockets then return home for their last two matches of the regular season. UT hosts Central Michigan (10-13, 5-5 MAC) on Friday, Nov. 13 before battling Eastern Michigan (12-11, 4-6 MAC) on Saturday, Nov. 14.