VALPARAISO, Ind. – The University of Toledo women's volleyball team's season came to an end on Friday night at Valparaiso with a three-set loss to the Beacons in the second round of the Women's National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC).

The Rockets conclude the 2021 season with a record of 20-13, just the second time in program history that a team reached the 20-win plateau. UT's .606 winning percentage this season is the best since 2013. The Rockets' appearance in the 2021 NIVC was the program's first-ever trip to a postseason tournament.

"That was a well-played volleyball match," head coach Jason Oliver said. "Hats off to Valparaiso for the way they stay consistent in their approach. I thought we fought and really pushed them throughout the match. It wasn't the way we wanted to end our season, but this was a season of firsts for our program. I am happy that this group of players were the ones to achieve so much for the Toledo Volleyball program."

Sophomore Taylor Alt and junior Sina Uluave both contributed a team-high 11 kills and added 15 and 13 digs, respectively. Senior Rhyen Neal added 14 digs in her final match as a Rocket, and freshman Elaine Redman collected 29 assists. Junior Rhyenne Filisi tallied seven kills and six blocks.

The 2021 Toledo volleyball squad will leave a significant mark on the program's record book: 

• The team's 287.5 blocks and 2.42 blocks/set are both new program records.
• Taylor Alt ended her sophomore season with 477 kills and averaging 4.04/set. Her kills/set average is the fifth-highest in a single season in school history, and she is now just the fifth player ever to average at least four kills per set. Her 477 kills are fourth-most ever in a season by a Rocket and her 1,234 attack attempts are sixth-most ever.
• Rhyen Neal ends her collegiate career with 1,429 digs, which will put her in fifth place all-time in school history.
• Rhyenne Filisi (1.08) and Olivia Vance (1.00) both ended the 2021 season averaging at least one block per set. Filisi's figure is the second-best in a single season in school history, just 0.01 off the record (Denise Berg, 1.09 blocks/set, 1994) and Vance now ranks tied for ninth in program history.

1^st Set (25-20, Valparaiso)

The Beacons led the first set wire-to-wire, eventually winning 25-20 to take a 1-0 lead in the match. The Rockets pulled within two at one juncture, 12-10, but Valpo scored the next four points to take a 16-10 lead to pull away in its victory in set one.

2^nd Set (25-21, Valparaiso)

The Rockets took their first lead of the match early in the set, with a kill from Alt giving them a 2-1 lead. Valpo scored the next four points to take a 5-2 lead, but UT then scored three straight to tie the score at 5-5. The Beacons were able to open up a 10-6 advantage, and from that point on did not trail for the rest of the second stanza. Toledo did surge late and make things interesting, pulling within a point at 20-19, but Valpo was able to close out the second set to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

3^rd Set (25-21, Valparaiso)

Things were looking good for the Rockets in the third set when they scored six straight points to take a 16-11 lead, their largest of the match. The Beacons struck with four straight points to trim UT's lead to one, 16-15, and eventually tied the score at 17-17. The two teams would fight to stalemates at 19-19 and 20-20, but Valparaiso's Bella Ravotto landed a kill to put the score at 21-20 and Toledo would not hold a share of the lead for the remainder of the match. The Beacons ended up winning the third set 25-21 to clinch the match.