TOLEDO, OH – The Rockets came up just short in five sets against Eastern Illinois in their second match of the DePaul Invitational. The Panthers won 3-2 (12-25, 25-21, 25-21, 18-25, 5-15) and held UT to a .179 attack percentage.
 
Sophomore MB Rachel Vidourek paced the Rockets with 13 kills, followed closely by junior RSH Mary O'Connor with 12 and sophomore OH Saige Thomas with 11. Freshman OH/MB Haley Sendelbach topped UT defensively with six blocks, while freshman DS Maurissa Leonard tallied a team-high 13 digs and junior libero Maggie Johnston followed with 12.
 
The Rockets started slowly, falling behind 11-2 in the first set and finishing with a .071 ATK%.
 
Toledo started off strong in the second set by surging to a 6-2 lead. UT remained in front for the remainder of the set thanks to Vidourek's six kills to even up the match with a 25-21 victory.
 
The Rockets took an early 6-3 cushion in the third set with the help of two kills from Vidourek and Thomas. The Panthers rallied to tie the score at 11 but were unable to take the lead. UT remained in control en route to a 25-21 victory with O'Connor's six kills carrying the Rocket attack.seven.
 
EIU came back strong in the fourth set and took a 6-3 lead. However, after two Panther errors and a Townsend kill the Rockets knotted the score at six. UT never could gain the lead though but did tied the score at 18-18 before Eastern Illinois tallied the last seven points to send the match to a fifth and deciding game.

Toledo could never regain any momentum as the Panthers dominated the final set early with a six-point run for an 8-2 advantage. UT didn't recover as it dropped its second five-set match of the season.

The Rockets close out their weekend in Chicago with a match against Evansville at 5:30 p.m. ET.