Toledo, Ohio— The University of Toledo women's volleyball team will conclude its 2018 season this week with a pair of home matches. The Rockets host Ball State on Thursday before their season finale against Buffalo on Saturday.
Thursday's tilt against the Cardinals begins at 7:00 p.m. and is available on ESPN+, while Saturday's match against the Bulls will start at 3:00 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN3.
Toledo vs. Ball State, 7:00 p.m. |
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Toledo vs. Buffalo, 3:00 p.m. |
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Toledo faced Ball State earlier this season in Muncie, falling in three sets. The Rockets last faced Buffalo at the tail end of last season, beating the Bulls in five sets.
Saturday will be the final home match for UT's five seniors:
Lynnea Clay,
Maurissa Leonard,
Haley Sendelbach,
Andrea Stephenson, and
Carly Townsend. They will all be honored before the match on Saturday.
Quick Hits
- Maurissa Leonard broke her own single-season digs record last weekend and enters Thursday's match with 576 digs this year. She owns the single-match, single-season, and career digs records at UT and is fifth among active DI players with 2,187 career digs.
- Toledo's MAC opponents are averaging just 1.54 blocks/set, fewest in the conference.
- UT will be looking to win its final home game of the season for the first time since 2013.
- The Rockets' five-set win at Buffalo last season snapped a three-match losing streak to the Bulls.
Scouting the Opponent
Ball State: The Cardinals are 19-8 coming into Thursday's match, though they have lost two straight. BSU swept the Rockets in Muncie earlier this season, one of its eight MAC sweeps this year. Ball State leads the league in hitting (.240) and blocks per set (2.53) as a team, while setter Amber Seaman leads the MAC in assists per set (10.36).
Buffalo: UT and UB last met last season in Buffalo in a five-set thriller won by the Rockets. This year, the Bulls own a 16-10 record and are riding a three-match winning streak. UB is second in the MAC in blocks per set (2.15) and third in hitting (.223), and it boasts the league's leading offensive threat in conference play. Andrea Mitrovic is averaging 4.67 terminations per set in MAC matches, and she ranks sixth among underclassmen in the entire country with her overall 4.37 kills/set average.
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