Toledo, Ohio – The Toledo volleyball team starts a four-game road swing to end the regular season this week. The Rockets head to Muncie, Ind. on Thursday, Nov. 2 for a 7:00 p.m. match against Ball State before a Saturday, Nov. 4 match at Buffalo at 6:00 p.m.

Thursday, Nov. 2 (7:00 p.m.): Toledo at Ball State | Live Stats | Live Stream
Saturday, Nov. 4 (6:00 p.m.) Toledo at Buffalo | Live Stats

Last Time Out
In its final two home matches of 2017, Toledo defeated Eastern Michigan in straight sets, 3-0, before falling to Central Michigan in a five-set thriller the following night.

In the match against EMU, Saige Thomas became the tenth player in program history with 1,000 career kills. This year Thomas is averaging 2.84 kills per set and has averaged 2.54 per set during her career as a Rocket.
Thomas tallied 14 kills against the Eagles while both Annie Beasley and Rachel Vidourek added nine apiece. Carly Townsend tallied 42 assists, a team-high this season for a three-set match. Maurissa Leonard had 22 digs and Andrea Stephenson added 11, while both Vidourek (.421) and Beasley (.400) both had efficient nights offensively.

Toledo won sets two and four against the Chippewas, but lost sets one, three, and five to drop its final home match of the season. Seniors Thomas and Beasley led the team with 19 and 14 kills, respectively, while Zoe Birnbrich added 11. Carly Townsend tied a season-high with 52 assists, and three Rockets reached double-digits in digs: Maurissa Leonard (26), Andrea Stephenson (15), and Lauren Bakaitis (12). For the weekend, Thomas led the team with 4.12 kills per set and Beasley hit a team-best .396. Leonard averaged 6.00 digs per set and Townsend averaged 11.75 assists per set.

Leonard Named MAC West Defensive Player of the Week
For the third straight week and fourth time this season, Maurissa Leonard was named MAC West Defensive Player of the Week. Leonard is coming off another tremendous conference weekend, averaging an even 6.00 digs per set, tallying 22 against the Eagles and 26 against the Chippewas. She started both matches off strong, recording 10 digs in the first set of both contests.

By the Numbers
Here are some notable numbers for Toledo:

• Leonard is inching closer to becoming the all-time digs leader at Toledo. She has 1,615 during her career, just 121 away from tying the career mark set by Lora Sarich (1,736). She is also just 31 away from breaking her own single-season record she set in 2016 (569). She has now had at least 500 digs in each of her first three seasons.
• The junior libero has also climbed up the national ranks lately. Leonard has averaged 7.26 digs per set in her last six matches and now ranks eighth in the country in total digs (539) and second in the MAC. Her 6.26 digs/set in league play rank only behind NCAA digs leader Kallie Seimet from Bowling Green.
• Beasley (.346) and Vidourek (.322) are fourth and sixth, respectively, in the MAC in hitting percentage. Beasley is also on pace to break UT's single-season hitting percentage mark (.336, Dakota Harkins in 2013).
• Carly Townsend missed most of 11 matches in September due to an injury, but since returning to the starting lineup on Sept. 28 she has averaged 10.03 assists per set. Her 52 assists against Central Michigan last Saturday tied a season-high.
• Thomas had 33 kills last weekend, the most in a conference weekend for her this season.
• Zoe Birnbrich is coming of her best weekend of the season; she hit .341 and averaged 2.12 kills per set and a team-high 0.88 blocks per set.

 

Scouting the Competition
Ball State: Earlier this season, the Cardinals were Toledo's first MAC victim in a match UT won 3-0 at home. Saige Thomas had a great night, tallying 15 kills to lead all comers; her individual termination total was the highest for UT this season in a three-set match. She had three blocks on the night, one of four Rockets to have at least that many: Rachel Vidourek had six, Carly Townsend had four, and Annie Beasley had three. Maurissa Leonard had a team-high 18 digs and Rhyen Neal recorded 10, her third double-digit dig output of the season. Townsend also tied for the match-high with 35 assists.

Ball State owns a record of 15-10 this season and a 7-5 conference mark. Most recently, the Cardinals fell to Central Michigan at home, 3-2, and defeated Eastern Michigan, 3-2. Emily Holland (.274 hitting percentage), Brooklyn Goodsel (2.87 kills/set), and Ellie Dunn (2.84 kills/set) are the offensive leaders for Ball State, while Kate Avila (4.82 digs/set) and Meg Starling (1.01 blocks/set) head the charge on defense.

Buffalo:  The Bulls are 14-9 this season and 7-4 in MAC play. They recently had a five-match winning streak snapped by Ohio last Saturday, but prior to that had lost just one set in those five victories. The seven conference victories are a school record.

Buffalo has been a great offensive team this season, leading the league in hitting percentage at .228 and averaging 12.89 kills per set. UB also leads the conference in service aces, averaging 1.51 per set. Individually the team has two of the top five attackers in the MAC: Cassie Shado (.367, first) and Megan Wernette (.342, fifth) to pace the team on offense. Larra Bickelhaupt is tops on the team with 3.88 digs per set and one of five Bulls players averaging at least two digs per set in 2017.