Toledo, Ohio— The Rockets fell to Youngstown State in five sets on Saturday afternoon (25-23, 18-25, 25-20, 25-14, 16-14) to conclude the Blue/Gold Invitational. Toledo tied for the best overall record at 2-1, but the eight sets won were the most of any team in the tournament.

Senior Annie Beasley was named tournament MVP after posting a team-best 3.00 kills/set over the course of the weekend. Freshman Chloee Kleespies and senior Rachel Vidourek were also all-tournament selections, racking up 2.58 and 2.17 kills per set, respectively.

Overall the all-tournament team looked like this:
Shealene Little, TTU
Sarah Varcolla, YSU
Lauren Twitty, NMU
Mariessa Carrasco, NMU
Rachel Vidourek, UT
Chloee Kleespies, UT
Annie Beasley (MVP), UT

Freshman Rhyen Neal had five service aces over the course of the tournament while senior Lauren Bakaitis and freshman Caleigh Barhorst each tallied three. Junior Maurissa Leonard averaged 5.33 digs/set during the weekend, including 24 in Saturday's match against the Penguins. Senior Brianna Foster led all comers on Saturday with 46 assists and had 131 across the three games played (10.92/set). Foster also recorded a double-double against Youngstown State with 46 assists and 15 digs.
 
"We had a tough matchup today against Youngstown State," said head coach Greg Smith. "They played a really good match, you have to give them credit for how well they played.  We did some really nice things today overall, we just were not consistent enough to pull out the win. We look forward to getting in the gym next week and preparing for the first weekend of MAC play."

Mid-American Conference play is up next on the docket for Toledo. A Thursday match at Central Michigan is the first MAC game of the year, followed by a trip to Ypsilanti on Saturday for a faceoff with Eastern Michigan.

Youngstown State
First Set: The Rockets and Penguins traded points early, with neither team really gaining much momentum until UT rattled off five straight points to take a 13-8 lead. The run was highlighted by a pair of kills from senior Annie Beasley, building off her strong performances the night before. The Penguins hung around and came within one point a few times, but they were never able to overtake the Rockets and UT came away with a 25-23 victory thanks to a Youngstown State service error at set point.

Second Set: The Penguins grabbed control of the second set by taking a 10-6 lead and never looked back, winning 25-18 to tie the match at 1-1. Youngstown State hit .353 in the set and led by seven at one point, the largest deficit Toledo faced this weekend. UT didn't hold the lead at all in the second set after leading for the vast majority of the first.

Third Set: Toledo fell behind early, 8-4, but Vidourek and Beasley helped bring their team back and make it 10-10 with relative ease. It was actually tied as late as 17-17, a kill from Swope brought about hat stalemate. Unfortunately the Penguins would account for eight of the next 11 points, ending the set with consecutive kills to win 25-20 and go up 2-1. UT did improve to hit .304 in the third set, but to no avail.

Fourth Set: After dropping sets two and three, Toledo came out firing for set number four. An early 8-3 advantage was fueled by three kills from Vidourek, but momentum swung back towards Youngstown State and all of a sudden the Penguins trailed by just one, 10-9. This is where the Rockets began to pull away; eight of the next nine points were scored by the Midnight Blue and Gold to give them a commanding 18-10 advantage. The Rockets would end up winning 25-14, tied for the largest margin of victory in a set this season (Sept. 1 against Southeastern Louisiana) and never trailed.

Fifth Set: For a match that went five sets, it was fitting the fith set was tightly contested from start to finish. YSU started off up 3-0, but the Rockets quickly brought it back to a 3-3 tie. Neither side held more than a one-point lead until the Penguins went up 11-9, but that didn't last long. Beasley ripped back-to-back kills to tie the set up at 11-11 to set up a 4-0 run that put UT up 13-11. The Penguins would bring it back to 14-14 and end it two points later to take the set and the match.


Highlights of UT's tough five set match against Youngstown State.