TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo women's volleyball team (14-8, 7-4 MAC) lost to Northern Illinois (14-7, 7-4 MAC) at home on Saturday, falling in four sets to its MAC West Division foe.
Following their three-set sweep on Friday, the Rockets won the first set on Saturday, 25-22, to go up 1-0 early in the match. The Huskies responded by outlasting Toledo in the second set to win 26-24, then won the third set 25-18 to take a 2-1 lead. Northern Illinois opened up a large lead in the fourth set, and a late UT comeback proved to be too little too late as NIU won 25-19 to win the match.
Junior Taylor Alt led all players with 21 kills on Saturday and hit .348 while adding nine digs. Junior Jada Bouyer and senior Olivia Vance both hit double figures in kills as well, collecting 12 and 10 terminations, respectively. Senior Ryann Jaqua recorded a match-high 24 digs, her fourth outing with at least 20 digs in the last five matches. Payton Morman turned in her second double-double in as many days, tallying 44 assists and 10 digs.
Toledo visits a pair of MAC East opponents next weekend. The Rockets head to Oxford, Ohio to face the Miami RedHawks on Friday, Oct. 28 beforeThe Battle of I-75 takes place on Saturday, Oct. 29 at Bowling Green
1st Set (25-22, Toledo)
Northern Illinois led 15-11 at the media timeout in the first set before Toledo utilized a 5-1 run to tie the score at 16-16. NIU retook the lead at 18-17, but three straight UT points made it a 20-18 game in favor of the Midnight Blue and Gold. The Huskies tied the score one last time at 21-21, but Toledo scored three straight to take the lead for good. Vance provided the clinching point in UT's 25-22 win. The Rockets hit .375 in the first set, their best offensive set of the night.
2nd Set (26-24, Northern Illinois)
NIU once again led 15-11 at the media timeout, but this time held onto its lead until the scoreboard read 21-17. Trailing by four, Toledo rattled off five straight points to go up, 22-21, late in the set. The 5-0 scoring run was punctuated by a service ace from freshman Macy Medors. NIU quickly tied the score at 22-22, but Vance collected back-to-back kills to bring about set point and put Toledo one point away from a 2-0 lead. The Huskies had other ideas, however, and scored four straight points to stun the Rockets and win, 26-24, to tie the match at 1-1.
3rd Set (25-18, Northern Illinois)
Northern Illinois jumped out to a 9-3 lead and appeared to be in the driver's seat in the third set. Toledo didn't go down easily though, fighting to cut the deficit to two and make the score 12-10. The Huskies scored five of the next six points to make it 17-11 and Toledo was unable to respond, falling 25-18 to go down 2-1 in the match.
4th Set (25-19, Northern Illinois)
The fourth set was dominated by the Huskies early, as they stormed out to a 16-5 lead to put the Rockets in a significant hole. Toledo put forth its best effort to come back and closed the deficit to single digits. Three straight UT points cut the NIU lead to five, 24-19, but following a timeout the Huskies were able to tally the final point of the match and clinch the fourth set.
