Ypsilanti, Mich.— The University of Toledo women's volleyball team started its final regular season road trip on Friday night, falling to Eastern Michigan in three sets.

Zoe Birnbrich tied for the match high with nine kills and hit .529, while Emma Swope added seven terminations. Maurissa Leonard tallied 15 digs and Carly Townsend added a match-high 24 assists. Eastern Michigan ended the night hitting .310, nearly matching its hitting percentage from the previous meeting (.312).

Toledo falls to 4-9 in conference play and still finds itself outside the MAC Tournament picture. The Rockets head up to Mount Pleasant, Mich. tomorrow night to face Central Michigan at 7:00 p.m.

Set 1 (25-17 EMU)
EMU scored the first three points of the match, but UT then brought the score to a 5-5 tie. The Eagles' offense was firing on all cylinders early, and a 9-2 lead put the Rockets behind, 14-6. Eastern Michigan was hitting .615 to that point. Toledo was able to whittle to gap down to three, 18-15, would not get any closer. The Eagles ended the first set on a 7-2 run to win, 25-17. Swope had a team-best three kills in the first frame, but the Rockets were not able to overcome an EMU offensive attack that hit .467.

Set 2 (25-22, EMU)
Toledo took a 4-3 lead to start the set, but Eastern Michigan flipped the script rather quickly to jump ahead, 9-6. Five straight points saw the Eagles' lead grow to 15-8, then their lead reached 23-14.  Toledo used an 8-1 run to pull within two, 24-22, and make things interesting down the stretch; Birnbrich and Swope registered the final two kills to put the Rockets within striking distance.  Eastern Michigan ultimately closed out UT to win 25-22 and take a 2-0 lead in the match.

Set 3 (25-18, EMU)
The third set started out as the tightest of the night. EMU scored the first three points, but the Rockets fought to tie the score at 9-9. After a lengthy delay involving a couple of coaches' challenges, Eastern Michigan scored five straight points to take a 14-9 lead over Toledo. The Eagles would cruise to a 25-18 win in the third set to win the match in straight sets.