TOLEDO, Ohio – The University of Toledo women's volleyball team fell to Ball State in five sets (23-25, 25-21, 19-25, 25-15, 10-15) on Friday evening at Savage Arena.
One night after handing the Cardinals (5-1, 5-1 MAC) their first loss of the season, the Rockets (2-4, 2-4 MAC) found themselves on the losing end of a five-set decision.
"We battled all weekend against a great team in Ball State," head coach Jason Oliver said. "I am happy to see our growth as a young group and I'm optimistic that we can find more consistent play each week."
Freshman Taylor Alt led the way with 14 kills and six blocks, while senior Emma Swope and sophomore Liz Beasley added 11 and 10, respectively. Freshman Payton Morman tallied 45 assists and 12 digs on Friday, and sophomore Ryann Jaqua led the Rockets with 27 digs. Senior Rhyen Neal recorded nine digs and a career-high eight service aces, which ties her for third-most in a match in program history. She is now one of nine players in school history to have at least eight service aces in a match and the first since 2007 (Katie Westerfield at Buffalo, Nov. 3, 2007).
Toledo will head down to Oxford to play Miami next week. Thursday's match is scheduled for a 4:00 p.m. start and Friday's contest will begin at 1:00 p.m.
1st set (25-23, Ball State)
The first set of the evening was the closest, with UT and BSU fighting to 14 tie scores and six lead changes. The latest point in which the Rockets had the lead was at 14-13, thanks to a termination from Alt. The closest Toledo got after that point was a tie score at 17-17 after a kill from Liz Beasley, but Ball State scored two straight points to take the lead for good.
2nd set (25-21, Toledo)
The Rockets started the second set with kills from sophomore Rhyenne Filisi and senior Chloee Kleespies, followed by three straight blocks, then an ace from Neal to take a 6-0 lead. Ball State was able to claw its way back and eventually took a 15-12 lead, but Toledo wouldn't stay down for long. Another 6-0 run that featured two more aces from Neal and two kills from Alt gave UT an 18-15 advantage. The Rockets withstood a late Ball State rally to hold on and win the second set to tie the match at 1-1.
3rd Set (25-19, Ball State)
Toledo fell behind early, 9-4, and was unable to reclaim the lead from that point on. Ball State used a 7-1 run in the middle of the set to take a commanding 19-12 lead and would eventually go on to win by six, 25-19, to put UT on the brink. Swope recorded five kills in the third set to lead the Rockets.
4th set (25-15, Toledo)
The fourth set started with three straight service aces off the hand of Neal, followed by terminations from Alt and Filisi and a block courtesy of Filisi and Beasley to set the tone and give Toledo a 6-0 lead. The Rockets led wire-to-wire and dominated for much of the fourth frame. A 9-2 run later in the set put UT ahead 22-9 and made a fifth set all but certain. Ball State chipped away at its deficit before the end of the set but it was too little too late as Toledo won 25-15 to force a fifth frame for the second straight night.
5th set (15-10, Ball State)
The Cardinals got their revenge on the Rockets for Thursday's contest by winning tonight's final set to split the series. Ball State never trailed in the fifth frame and hit .450 to earn the win.
