Toledo, Ohio— Playing on its home court for the first time in 2017, Toledo earned a three-game sweep over Southeastern Louisiana (25-14, 25-22, 29-27) to kick off the BG/UT Invitational this weekend. In the evening against VCU, the Rockets fell 3-1 (25-15, 23-25, 20-15, 14-25), splitting Friday's doubleheader.

Toledo now owns a record of 2-3 heading into tomorrow's game against Notre Dame. The UT/BG Invitational continues on Saturday with a match between VCU and Southeastern Louisiana at 11:00 a.m. followed by the Rockets and Fighting Irish squaring off at 7:00 p.m. at Savage Arena.

Southeastern Louisiana

Leading the way in the box score was senior outside hitter Saige Thomas (nine kills), senior setter Brianna Foster (17 assists), and junior libero Maurissa Leonard (19 digs, a match-high). As a team, the Rockets had a season-best nine service aces against the Lions.

Though the match ended in three sets, Southeastern Louisiana controlled much of the third set and the tide looked to be shifting in the direction of the Lions. Toledo fought hard, though, and in the end came out on top.

"Kudos to the team for stepping up in a time of adversity, especially when we were down 6-0 to start that third set," Head Coach Greg Smith said. "It was good to see the result we did. They stayed calm and that's all we could ask them to do. We just have to trust that we have what it takes in those situations to pull it out."

First Set
Toledo dominated the first set, winning 25-14. Both teams traded points to start out, but with the score at 9-8 the Rockets rattled off nine straight points to take a commanding 18-8 advantage. Thomas had a couple kills during that big run and freshman outside hitter Emma Swope ended things with a couple kills to seal the first set. Five different Rockets had two kills in the first set.

Second Set
Leonard fired in a pair of aces to set the tone in the second set, one that Toledo would win 25-21. Southeastern Louisiana kept it close, hanging within one or two points for much of the set and outhitting UT. The Lions actually tied it up at 17-17, but a few too many errors on their end helped the Rockets take a commanding 2-0 lead heading into the third set.

Third Set
Southeastern Louisiana was in the driver's seat for much of the third set on Friday. Toledo trailed 6-0 early before clawing back into it and pulling within one, 10-9. Another surge from the Lions put them ahead 18-12, but the Rockets kept fighting. The two teams traded points and UT finally grabbed its first lead of the set at 25-24 after an attack error from Southeastern. Thomas and Foster each had huge kills to help put away the Lions for good, and Toledo came away with a 29-27 victory in the third set and its second match victory of the season.

VCU

Toledo won its first set against the Rams in decisive fashion, 25-15, but would drop the next three. UT hung in until the end in set number two, falling 25-23, but games three and four were more slanted in favor of VCU (25-20 and 25-14, respectively).

"We did some nice things in the first set obviously," Smith said. "We were right there in the second set, we just didn't close out even though we had opportunities. The third and fourth set we kind of broke down mentally. That's what we need to continue to work on."

Swope was the match leader in kills with 16, a new career-high for the freshman and Foster tallied 42 assists, one off of her career best. Leonard was the Rockets' leader in digs with 18.

First Set
Toledo dominated the first set, with freshman outside hitter Emma Swope registering six kills. As a team UT hit .370 and never trailed, recording 10 of the final 14 points to cruise to a 1-0 lead in the match. Freshman outside hitter Rhyen Neal had consecutive aces during a stretch where the Rockets had six straight points. This also marked the fourth time this season Toledo has started off a match up 1-0.

Second Set
For the first time on Friday, the Rockets dropped a set; VCU tied the match up at 1-1, winning the second frame 25-23. Neither team led by more than three until the Rams took a 21-17 lead, the end result of a little 8-3 run. Toledo made it interesting, pulling within one (24-23) but couldn't quite get over the hump. Swope once again led all comers in kills (five) and junior libero Maurissa Leonard was the set leader in digs with nine.

Third Set
The Rockets took an early 3-0 lead, but VCU would go on to take nine of the next 11 points, grabbing hold of a lead it would not relinquish. In the end the Rams came out on top 25-20. After hitting just .102, Toledo would improve to .265 in the third game.

Fourth Set
Toledo found itself in an 8-0 hole early, but halved that deficit to four; some solid offense on the part of the Rockets made the score 14-10. VCU upped its lead to eight once again by scoring four straight points, putting UT down 18-10 and eventually winning the game 25-14 to clinch the match.


Toledo's matches against Southeastern Louisiana and VCU.