Kalamazoo, Mich.— The Toledo women's volleyball team won its first MAC match of the season on Saturday, taking down Western Michigan in five sets.

The Rockets won the first two sets, but allowed the Broncos to push the match to five sets, where UT came away with a 16-14 win.

Zoe Birnbrich was a monster offensively, registering 20 kills and hitting .366. Chloee Kleespies added 17 kills, while Alexis Falzone tallied 10 terminations and three block assists. Carly Townsend was credited with 54 assists while Maurissa Leonard had a match-high dig total of 26.

Next up for the Rockets are two home matches next weekend: A Friday night affair against Central Michigan followed by a Saturday evening matchup against Eastern Michigan. Friday's match will be streamed live on ESPN+, while Saturday's contest can be seen on BCSN and ESPN3.

Set 1 (25-23, UT)
Western Michigan scored the first three points of the match, but then UT scored six of the next seven points to take a 6-4 lead. UT would extend that lead to five, 16-11, but WMU tallied four straight scores to pull within one, 16-15. Toledo was unable to put the Broncos away down the home stretch until, after the score reached 23-23, Birnbrich and Falzone recorded consecutive kills to give UT a 25-23 first set win.

Set 2 (25-23, UT)
The second set ended with the same score as the firs, and the similarities didn't stop there. WMU once again scored the first three points of the match, and the two teams were tied at 23-23 before UT scored twice to close out the set. The second frame featured both squads scoring points in bunches in a back-and-forth battle, highlighted by a 6-0 Toledo run that turned a 12-9 deficit into a 15-12 lead. With the scored knotted at 23-23, Birnbrich brought about a set point with a termination and Elise Wilcox closed things out with a service ace.

Set 3 (25-16, WMU)
The most uneven set of the night featured just one tie score and zero lead changes. After WMU broke a 1-1 tie to take a 2-1 lead, it did not look back. The Broncos took a commanding 14-4 advantage and went on to double up the Rockets at 22-11. The final score would end up being 25-16; Toledo hit just .114 compared to Western Michigan's .379.

Set 4 (25-21, WMU)
Toledo took an 8-5 lead to start things off, but four straight Bronco points made it 9-8. The Western Michigan lead ballooned to 19-12 at one point, but Toledo was able to fight back and pull within three, 23-20. It proved to be too little too late though, and a service ace would close out the fourth set and bring about a decisive fifth frame.

Set 5 (16-14, UT)
The shortest set was also the closest, with eight tie scores and five lead changes. Western Michigan took a 4-2 lead that grew to a 10-7 advantage. Toledo scored five of the next six points, though, to jump ahead, 12-11. The Rockets had a 14-12 match point, but a service error and attack error let the Broncos back into the match. Luckily, UT was able to regroup and consecutive kills from Falzone and Birnbrich sealed the deal and handed the Midnight Blue and Gold their first MAC win of the season.