KENT, Ohio – The Toledo women's volleyball completed its weekend sweep of Kent State on Saturday, winning in four sets.
With the win, the Rockets (18-10, 11-6 MAC) inched closer to clinching a spot in the MAC Tournament. Following Saturday's action, Toledo and Central Michigan (18-10, 11-6 MAC) were still locked in a tie for fourth place, though CMU owns the tiebreaker. Northern Illinois (17-10, 10-7 MAC) would be the final team in the tournament sitting in sixth place, percentage points above Buffalo (17-11, 9-7 MAC) in the standings. Buffalo and Bowling Green began play at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday night. The top six teams advance to the MAC Tournament, which will be hosted by the regular season champion.
Toledo got off to a slow start at Kent State on Saturday, dropping the first set before bouncing back to win the next three and cap a 2-0 weekend.
Junior Taylor Alt tallied a match-high 18 kills, while senior Olivia Vance tallied eight kills and a season-best seven blocks to help the cause. Seniors Ryann Jaqua (11) and Abby Ray (10) both cracked double figures in digs, and junior Mary-Kate Lopez led the Rockets with 24 assists.
"This was a great team win," head coach Jason Oliver said. "Kent State came out focused and we really had to find a way to play better to beat them. In the end, we made enough winning plays to do that. To finish the last weekend of the year with two wins is huge."
Toledo will wrap up its regular season at first-place Ball State on Wednesday, Nov. 16.
1st Set (25-10, Kent State)
The Rockets got off to a rough start on Saturday, falling behind 16-2 to open the first set. Kent State would go on to win 25-10 and hit an astounding .522 to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
2nd Set (25-23, Toledo)
Kent State had the upper hand early, but once the Rockets wrestled the lead away at 13-12 they would not trail for the remainder of the set. Kent State didn't go down without a fight though, tying the score seven times in the latter half of the set, but with the score tied at 23-23 Toledo captured the next two points to win and tie the match at 1-1. Three of Vance's seven blocks came in the second set.
3rd Set (26-24, Toledo)
The Golden Flashes held a late lead, 20-17, before the Rockets scored four in a row to turn their three-point deficit into a one-point lead, 21-20. Toledo had Kent State against the wall at 24-21, but surrendered three straight points to put the score at a 24-24 stalemate. UT didn't back down though, as junior Jada Bouyer's kill made it 25-24 before Lopez provided the winning point to put her team ahead 2-1 in the match.
4th Set (25-19, Toledo)
Whereas the second and third sets were battles until the very end, the fourth set was well within the Rockets' grasp from the midway point onward. Alt's kill at 10-10 gave Toledo the lead for good, and junior Rachel Pierce's kill provided the 25th point to clinch the set and the match for the Midnight Blue and Gold.
