TOLEDO, Ohio – A raucous and energetic crowd saw the University of Toledo women's volleyball team drop a hard-fought match to arch-rival Bowling Green on Saturday night, with the Falcons prevailing in four sets.
The Rockets (16-9, 7-6 MAC) won the first set and hit .344 to begin the match, but BGSUÂ (16-7, 12-1 MAC) edged UT in the next three sets to win. Toledo held late leads in the second and fourth sets, but the Falcons were able to win close battles each time.
Sophomore Taylor Alt tallied a double-double, her ninth of the season, collecting a match-high 21 kills along with 13 digs. Junior Sina Uluave added 18 kills and eight digs, while junior Olivia Vance registered double-digit terminations (12) for the second straight night. Freshman Elaine Redman also had a double-double on Saturday, contributing 44 assists and 11 digs. Senior Rhyen Neal led the Rockets with a career-high 30 digs and sophomore Abby Erickson also set a career high with six blocks.
The Rockets host Eastern Michigan for a pair of matches next weekend.
1st Set (25-19, Toledo)
The start of Saturday's match could not have gone better for the Rockets, who scored the first eight points of the night to take a commanding lead. Toledo would lead wire-to-wire in the first frame, with its lead growing to as many as nine, 17-8. The Falcons would close the gap a bit, but UT would end up winning 25-19 to take a 1-0 lead in the match. Six of Alt's 19 kills came in the first set, and she added two blocks as well to help Toledo start the night strong.
2nd Set (25-23, Bowling Green)
Toledo once again got off to a nice start, taking a 5-2 lead early. UT fended off BGSU for the early stages of the second set, but the Falcons used a 5-0 run to take its first lead of the match, going up 16-13. Trailing by two at 19-17, the Rockets scored the next three points to take a one-point lead, 20-19. BGSU would tie it up at 20-20, but a kill from Vance once again put Toledo in the lead. The teams traded points again to push the score to 22-21 in UT's favor, but Bowling Green scored the next three to bring about set point at 24-22. Sophomore Rachel Pierce's kill kept Toledo alive, but Falcon Petra Indrova's kill gave her team the clinching point and tied the match at 1-1.
3rd Set (25-22, Bowling Green)
This time it was Bowling Green that started off strong, taking an early 4-0 lead. The Falcons never trailed in the third set; the closest Toledo got was a tie at 11-11 before three straight BGSU points gave them the lead for good. The Rockets nearly came back at the end of the set, with a kill from Alt making the score 24-22, but the next point would go the way of the Falcons to give them a 25-22 lead and a 2-1 advantage in the match.
4th Set (26-24, Bowling Green)
Toledo scored the first five points of the fourth set, a run that started with a kill from Uluave and was followed by kills from Alt and Vance, a block from Redman, and another kill off the hand of Vance to put the score at 5-0. The Falcons scored eight of the next 10 points, though, to take its first lead of the set at 8-7. The two teams battled back and forth until the Rockets used a 6-1 run to take a 16-12 lead, swinging the momentum in their favor. But Bowling Green would score seven of the next nine points to take a late one-point lead at 19-18. The end of the fourth set saw both teams deliver blows to the other, and Toledo looked to be in a good position to win when Vance's kill made the score 24-23. Bowling Green had other ideas, scoring the next three points to win 26-24 and clinch the match.
