DEKALB, Ill. – The University of Toledo volleyball team fell to Northern Illinois on Thursday night in five sets.

Trailing 2-1 in the match, the Rockets used an astounding 15-0 run to seize control of the fourth set (25-16) and force a fifth frame. UT and NIU kept pace with each other in the fifth set, but the Huskies ultimately came out on top, 15-13, to hand Toledo its second five-set loss of the season.

"We did everything we needed to do in order to win the match," head coach Jason Oliver said. "Give NIU credit, they won two more points when it mattered. I am happy with the improvement from week one to week two. We are still learning and growing. That is all I can ask of this young team."

Four Rockets reached double-digits in kills on Thursday: senior Chloee Kleespies (17 kills), redshirt freshman Rachel Pierce (career-high 15), freshman Taylor Alt (12), and sophomore Olivia Vance (10). Vance led all comers with a career-high nine blocks, one week after registering eight rejections in Toledo's season opener. Kleespies tied a career high with six blocks. Sophomore Ryann Jaqua recorded a career-high 30 digs, the first Rocket with at least 30 digs in a match since the 2018 season when Maurissa Leonard had 32 digs in a contest against Duquesne. Freshman Payton Morman collected a career-high 55 assists, the most by a Toledo setter since Carly Townsend in 2018 (51 vs. Ohio).

Toledo and NIU will face off again on Friday at 5:00 p.m. ET.

1^st Set (NIU, 25-19)
Toledo scored the first point of the match off a kill from Vance, but Northern Illinois led for nearly the entire first set. The Huskies used a 6-2 run to take a five-point lead, 16-11, and didn't look back en route to a 25-19 decision. The Huskies hit .423 in the first frame to overcome strong first sets from redshirt freshman Abby Erickson, Kleespies, and Vance (three kills apiece, all three hit at least .600).

2^nd Set (Toledo, 25-18)
The Rockets scored the first two points, then surrendered four of the next five to fall behind 5-3 to the Huskies. Toledo later used a 7-2 run to take an 11-9 lead thanks to multiple terminations from Alt and Pierce. After falling behind again, UT scored three straight points out of the media timeout to take a 16-15 advantage. Leading by one point late, 19-18, the Rockets rattled off six straight points to close out an excellent second set and tie the match at 1-1. Vance stepped up big late, accounting for the final three points of the set. Toledo hit .333 in the second stanza compared to the Huskies' .029 hitting percentage.

3^rd Set (NIU, 25-23)
NIU took a 6-2 lead to start the second set, but UT was able to claw its way back and take a 14-11 advantage. Toledo led 21-18 late, but NIU scored the next four to take a late one-point lead, 22-21. The Rockets scored two in a row on a Husky service error and a kill off the hand of Erickson, but Northern Illinois was able to register the final three points of the set to come out on top 25-23.

4^th Set (Toledo, 25-16)
The story of the fourth set was two extended runs from both sides of the court. With the score tied at 9-9, Toledo exploded for a remarkable 15 straight points for force a set point at 24-9. Kleespies tallied three kills and a block during the run, while Vance added two kills and three blocks. Despite overwhelming advantage on the scoreboard at 24-9, Northern Illinois scored seven straight points to make it 24-16 before eventually surrendering the 25^th point on a kill from Kleespies. Vance had a monster fourth set with five blocks and two kills.

5^th Set (Toledo, 15-13)
After taking an early 6-4 lead, Toledo surrendered the next four points to fall behind 8-6. The two teams swapped blows for the entire set until, with the score tied at 13-13, NIU's Kennedy Wallace tallied a kill and assisted on a block to hand the Huskies a five-set win over the Rockets.