Tournament Central

Toledo, Ohio— The University of Toledo women's volleyball team travels to Bradley University for a tournament this weekend. In addition to playing the tournament hosts, UT will also face George Washington and Western Illinois.

The Rockets play GW on Friday, August 31 at 4:00 p.m. ET before facing Bradley and WIU on Saturday at Noon and 6:00 p.m. ET, respectively. Saturday's match against the Braves will be streamed on ESPN .

Friday, August 31: vs. George Washington at 4:00 p.m. | Live Stats
Saturday, September 1: at Bradley at 12:00 p.m. | Live Stats | Live Stream
Saturday, September 1: vs. Western Illinois at 6:00 p.m. | Live Stats

Maurissa Leonard Named MAC West Defensive Player of the Week
For the first time this season and the ninth time in her career, Maurissa Leonard was named MAC West Defensive Player of the Week. The Oregon, Ohio native tallied 31 digs in her 2018 season debut against Northern Kentucky and followed that up with 22 against Notre Dame and 27 against Weber State. She was all over the place against UND, registering 42 reception attempts. In sets won by the Rockets, Leonard averaged 9.33 digs.

Quick Hits

• Leonard is just 16 digs away from breaking Toledo's all-time career digs record, currently held by Lora Sarich (2003-06).
• Last weekend, Leonard averaged 6.67 digs per set, seventh in the nation.
• Freshman Maddie Fogg debuted as the Rockets' setter and tallied 108 assists over three matches, a total which ranked inside the top 15 among freshman in the entire country.
• Zoe Birnbrich averaged 2.50 kills per set last weekend while hitting .359, and also added 1.08 blocks per set.

Scouting the Competition
George Washington: The Colonials also enter the weekend searching for their first victory, having gone 0-2 last weekend against Howard and American. GW went 11-21 last season and was picked to finish fifth in the Atlantic 10 this year. Junior Skylar Iott was their main offensive threat last weekend, averaging 4.29 kills per set, though she only hit .075 in the two matches.

Bradley: The Braves won two out of three at their season-opening tournament hosted by Morehead State. Bradley defeated Hampton and St. Francis, but lost to the host Eagles in five sets. Senior outside hitter Erica Haslag was named preseason all-conference and is the Missouri Valley Conference's active career kills leader.

Western Illinois: A date with the Leathernecks rounds out the weekend for UT. Western Illinois went 1-2 last weekend with its lone win coming in the season opener against Fairleigh Dickinson. WIU lost to Tennessee Tech and Evansville to cap off its home tournament. Head coach Ben Staupe took over the program less than a month ago after spending time at Wisconsin-Whitewater.