Peoria, Ill.— The University of Toledo women's volleyball team fell to George Washington on Friday, 3-2, in its opening match in the CEFCU Invitational.

At the beginning of the third set, senior Maurissa Leonard officially became the program's all-time career leader in digs. The Oregon, Ohio native needed 16 digs to break the record and pass former Rocket Lora Sarich (2003-06). Leonard already holds Toledo's single-match digs record, single-season record, single-season digs per set record, and the career digs per set record.

Individually, Zoe Birnbrich led the way for Toledo with a career-best 21 kills while hitting .415 and recording five block assists. Chloee Kleespies added 14 kills and five blocks, while Leonard tallied 32 digs. Carly Townsend accounted for 31 assists and 11 digs.

Toledo has two matches on Saturday, one against tournament host Bradley at Noon ET following a matchup against Western Illinois at 6:00 p.m. ET.

Set 1
The Rockets dropped the first set by a narrow margin, 25-23. UT took an early lead and at one point rattled off a 5-0 run to take a 17-11 lead. George Washington stormed back, though, to tie the set at 18-18. UT would fight back to tie the score at 20-20 and 23-23, but GW managed the final two points to take a 1-0 lead in the match. The Rockets hit better than the Colonials in the first set (.265 to .231) and committed fewer attack errors, but GW registered 16 kills to Toledo's 12.

Set 2
Set two was all George Washington right from the start. Toledo quickly found itself trailing 10-3 and was not able to overcome the early deficit. GW built a match-high 11-point lead, 19-8, but the Rockets were able to close the gap a bit before ultimately falling 25-17.

Set 3
Reminiscent of last weekend's match against Northern Kentucky, UT once again won the third set in exciting fashion. Toledo and George Washington started off neck and neck before GW took a 13-9 lead. The Rockets did not go away and eventually tied the set at 20-20, then again at 22-22. From there, Toledo used the offensive prowess of Birnbrich and a service ace from Haley Sendelbach to capture the third set.

Set 4
The Rockets meant business in the fourth set, doubling GW's score at 16-8 and looking like they were well on their way to a fifth set. That seemed even more apparent when Toledo led 21-12, but the Colonials did not go down easy. George Washington's 11-3 run nearly spoiled the Rockets' big early lead and brought the score to 24-23. But it was Kleespies to the rescue; the sophomore's termination sealed the fourth set for UT and brought about the fifth frame.

Set 5
Toledo hung tight with George Washington and the two teams were tied at 5-5 early in the set. But the Colonials pulled away, going on to win 15-12 and win the match. This marked the second time this season the Rockets won sets three and four to force a fifth set. Last Friday against Northern Kentucky, UT also needed extra points to win set three and won set four 25-23.