MOREHEAD, Ky. – The University of Toledo women's volleyball team bounced back to defeat Marshall on Saturday, winning in four sets to improve to 9-3 on the year.
After dropping the first set, the Rockets rallied to win the next three and rebounded from Friday's stumble against Morehead State. Sophomore
Taylor Alt registered a match-high 17 kills, while junior
Sina Uluave added 12 kills and 22 digs, her third double-double of the year. Junior
Ryann Jaqua collected 22 digs as well, while
Elaine Redman (27 assists, 13 digs) and
Payton Morman (26 assists) both saw time at setter.
Toledo begins Mid-American Conference play next weekend with two matches at Ohio.
Set 1 (Marshall, 25-18)
Toledo was only down by one, 9-8, when Marshall rattled off six of the next seven points to take a 15-9 lead. Not to be outdone, the Rockets scored the next six points to tie the ledger at 15-15. The Thundering Herd kept themselves a step ahead though, and with the score sitting at 18-17 in their favor, they scored seven of the final eight points of the set to win 25-18 and put Toledo in a 1-0 hole.
Set 2 (Toledo, 25-20)
Trailing 4-2 early, the Rockets leaned on Beasley and Vance to score the next six points to make the score 8-4. Beasley was in on five of the six points, tallying three kills and two blocks, while Vance was in on both blocks and had a kill as well. Marshall fought to tie the score at 9-9, but a termination from Alt gave Toledo a 10-9 lead that it would not relinquish for the remainder of the set. Filisi and Uluave tallied the last three points of the set to help the Rockets tie the match at 1-1.
Set 3 (Toledo, 25-19)
With the score tied at 10-10, Toledo accounted for the next five points to take a 15-10 lead. The Rockets continued to surge ahead and led by as many as eight, eventually winning 25-19 to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Toledo's offensive attack was terrific in the third set, tallying 17 kills on 39 attempts with just four errors, good for a .333 attack percentage. Filisi and Uluave combined for nine kills in the third set.
Set 4 (Toledo, 25-21)
Toledo jumped out to an early 8-4 lead in the fourth set, with half of its points being credited to Alt (three kills, one block). The Rockets wouldn't trail for the remainder of the match, though Marshall would make things interesting. The Thundering Herd came within a point, 16-15, but after a timeout the Rockets regrouped to score the next three and take a 19-15 lead. Uluave registered the last two points of the match to clinch Toledo's ninth win of the year.