Toledo, Ohio— The Toledo women's volleyball team defeated Eastern Michigan on Friday, 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-19) in a crucial Mid-American Conference match. The Rockets are now 11-12 on the season and 6-5 in conference play.

In the first set, Saige Thomas recorded the 1,000th kill of her career, becoming the tenth player in school history to reach that benchmark. The termination came at a crucial point, bringing the first frame to a set point that helped put Toledo in a good position to win the set.

Thomas led the way offensively for UT, registering a match-high 14 kills including the big number 1,000. Annie Beasley and Rachel Vidourek contributed nine kills apiece and Carly Townsend added 42 assists, a season-high for the Rockets in a three set match. Maurissa Leonard tallied 22 digs while Andrea Stephenson had 11 on the defensive end. Both Vidourek (.421) and Beasley (.400) had efficient nights attacking.

For the Rockets, the match was never really in doubt after going ahead 1-0. Toledo did not trail at any point in the second or third set and held double-digit leads in both games.

Next up for Toledo is a match against Central Michigan on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 5:00 p.m. It will be the last home match of the season for the Rockets and, after the match is complete, we will be honoring our five seniors: Lauren Bakaitis, Annie Beasley, Brianna Foster, Saige Thomas, and Rachel Vidourek.

First Set: The opening stanza was the closest of the night by a large margin. Eastern Michigan took a 7-4 lead that grew to 13-8 rather quickly. Three straight points from Toledo closed the gap to 13-11, but the Eagles continued to stay a couple points ahead of the Rockets. That is, until UT had a stretch where it scored six of seven points to take the lead for the first time all night, 18-17. Eastern Michigan would come back to score the next two points to go ahead 19-18, but that was the last time EMU would find itself ahead. A kill from Thomas, an attacking error on the Eagles, and another Thomas termination quickly flipped the script and made the score 21-19 in favor of Toledo. The final score of the set would end up being 25-21, and ended on a blast from Emma Swope. Toledo his .286 in the first frame and notched 15 kills, five of which came from Thomas.

Second Set: The Rockets led the second set wire-to-wire, eventually winning 25-16. They would jump out to a 9-3 lead over the Eagles with kills from Beasley and Swope leading the charge. UT's advantage over EMU grew to 18-8, the largest lead of the night to that point. Eastern Michigan would mount a small comeback, scoring six of eight points to pull within seven, 23-16. The momentum shift didn't last long, though, as terminations off the hands of Swope and Zoe Birnbrich sealed the deal for Toledo.

Third Set: The third and final set was all Midnight Blue and Gold. Toledo stormed out to a 17-5 lead, a run that began with kills from Birnbrich and Thomas and ended with consecutive aces from Andrea Stephenson. Eastern Michigan did close the gap a bit, rattling off five straight points at one juncture, but the large, early deficit was too much for the Eagles. The last three points for Toledo came from Vidourek, who recorded kills seven, eight, and nine to close out EMU and secure a big victory for UT. The Rockets hit .286 to tie with the first set for the best attacking percentage tonight.