Mt. Pleasant, Mich.— The University of Toledo women's volleyball team was defeated by Central Michigan on Saturday night in three sets. The loss officially eliminates the Rockets from postseason contention.

"We ran into a couple teams this weekend that had a lot of momentum going for them," head coach Jason Oliver said. "We're still trying to figure out how to play at a high level on the road. I think when we go back and look at the film we'll see some things we need to work on. When you're competing on the road in conference play, the little things it takes to win become really important. We need to find a way to do the little things better."

A lopsided second set was sandwiched between two 25-23 decisions. Emma Swope recorded a team-high nine kills and Chloee Kleespies added eight. Carly Townsend had a match-best 29 assists and also added 10 digs.

Maurissa Leonard's 15 digs give her 576 for her career, a new single-season school record. The Oregon, Ohio native owned the previous record of 569, which she set in 2016. She owns the single-match, single-season, and career digs records at Toledo.

The Rockets wrap up the regular season at home with matches against Ball State and Buffalo this week. The Cardinals visit Savage Arena on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m., while the Bulls come to town Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m.

Set 1 (25-23, CMU)
CMU scored the first two points of the night, but Toledo controlled the early stages of the first set, taking a 14-11 lead at one point after a big block by Alexis Falzone and Swope. Central Michigan scored the next four points, though, to take 15-14 advantage. It was a back-and-forth affair that featured nine tie scores, including one as late as 23-23. However, the Chippewas closed out the Rockets with two straight kills to win the first set. Townsend tallied 13 assists and five digs in the first frame.

Set 2 (25-13, CMU)
Central Michigan took control with an early 8-3 lead, hitting .600 during that 11-point stretch. That lead grew to 17-5 thanks to a 14-2 CMU run. The Rockets were never quite able to get things going offensively in the second set, and fell 25-13. Towards the end of the frame, Leonard recorded her 10th dig of the night, her 570th dig of the season, which broke her own single-season school record. The Oregon, Ohio native owns UT's single-match, single-season, and career dig records.

Set 3 (25-23, CMU)
Toledo took a big 9-2 lead to start the set, and it appeared a switch had flipped offensively. Central Michigan then went on its own scoring binge; an 8-2 run helped the Chippewas tie the set at 15-15. Three straight points gave CMU an 18-15 lead, but Elise Wilcox recorded a kill and two straight service aces to put Toledo right back into a tie at 18-18. CMU would retake the lead at 21-19, but back-to-back kills from Swope and Birnbrich knotted the score at 21-21. The Chippewas were able to close it out, though, and the Rockets ended up on the losing end of a 3-0 decision.