Toledo, Ohio— The University of Toledo women's volleyball team dropped its penultimate match of the season on Thursday night, falling to Ball State in three sets at Savage Arena.

The Rockets dropped the first set, 25-15, before succumbing to the Cardinals in sets two and three by identical scores of 25-20. Elise Wilcox tallied a team-high eight kills, while Zoe Birnbrich was close behind with six. Carly Townsend was credited with 21 assists and three blocks and, defensively, Maurissa Leonard's 15 digs were the most by a Rocket.

The final match of the 2018 season is this Saturday at 3:00 p.m. against Buffalo. Toledo will be honoring its five seniors prior to the match. Lynnea Clay, Maurissa Leonard, Haley Sendelbach, Andrea Stephenson, and Carly Townsend will all be playing their final match for the Midnight Blue and Gold.

Set 1 (25-15, BSU)
Ball State won Thursday's match convincingly, and it started off the night by taking a 9-4 lead over the Rockets. Though the Cardinals committed a service error on the match's opening serve, their 9-3 run put UT in a 9-4 hole rather quickly. Later, a 7-0 run from Ball State would put Toledo behind by double digits, 18-8. The Cardinals won the first set by the same 10-point margin, 25-15. The Rockets were the victims of BSU' highest hitting percentage of the night in the first set (.333).

Set 2 (25-20, BSU)
The first half of the second set was about as back-and-forth as it could be. The Rockets and Cardinals were tied 13 times in the first 27 points, with neither team taking a lead larger than one. After a Ball State attack error tied the set at 13-13, though, the Cardinals ripped off a 4-0 run to take a 17-13 lead. Toledo was not able to regain the lead, only climbing back to within one of BSU, 19-18. Ball State scored six of the final eight points of the second frame to win, 25-20, and take a 2-0 lead in the match. Four of Wilcox's eight terminations came in the second set.

Set 3 (25-20, BSU)
Toledo came out strong, scoring the first three points of the third set. A block from Birnbrich and Chloee Kleespies started things off with a bang, and that was followed by a service ace from Birnbrich and a solo block from Lynnea Clay to give UT a 3-0 lead. But Ball State had other ideas, scoring the next six points to flip a three-point deficit into a three-point advantage. The Rockets were able to pull within one, 15-14, but another big BSU run was too much for UT to overcome. Ball State scored seven straight points to take a 22-14 lead, and would eventually close out the match with a 25-20 win.