MUNCIE, Ind. – The Toledo women's volleyball team's MAC Tournament stay came to an end on Sunday with a three-set loss to Central Michigan.
Despite the sweep, the Rockets (18-12, 11-7 MAC) were in contention late in the first and second sets, but a few points swung momentum in favor of the Chippewas (20-10, 12-6 MAC). A late Toledo rally in the third set was not enough to overcome a CMU offensive attack that hit .357 in the final frame.
"That's not the way we wanted to end our season," head coach Jason Oliver said. "Central Michigan came out and played great today. Hats off to them for the way they handled themselves. There were a few points that could have gone either way and could have changed the outcome of the match, but they didn't go our way and we need to learn from that."
Junior Taylor Alt tallied a match-high 14 kills and added 12 digs on Sunday, while junior Jada Bouyer collected 13 kills and four blocks. Senior Rhyenne Filisi led UT with five blocks and had eight kills as well, and senior Ryann Jaqua posted a match-high 17 digs and two aces.
1st Set (28-26, Central Michigan
Toledo began the day by scoring the first two points of the match, but CMU answered with a 6-0 run to take a 6-2 lead. UT fought back to tie the score at 7-7, and both teams would continued to trade leads for the remainder of the set. With the score tied at 19-19, a 4-0 Toledo run instigated by a kill from Alt put the score at 23-19. The Chippewas responded with back-to-back blocks, but a service error put the Rockets up 24-22 and just one point away from winning the set. Central Michigan scored twice to put the score at 24-24 though, and put UT on the brink twice before a service ace ended the set at 28-26.
2nd Set (25-22, Central Michigan)
The second set started with both teams trading points until Toledo managed to score three in a row to take a 7-4 lead. That kick-started a 7-1 run that gave the Rockets an 11-5 lead, but Central Michigan quickly pulled within a point at 13-12. In a repeat of the first set, both teams traded blows in the second until the scoreboard read 20-20, at which point a kill from Bouyer put Toledo up 21-20. The Chippewas then tallied three straight points to flip the script and take a 23-21 lead and would go on to win 25-22 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
3rd Set (25-21, Central Michigan
The Rockets led 6-4 early, but a 6-1 run for CMU gave it a 10-7 lead. The Chippewas would not trail for the remainder of the third set, though Toledo did put together one last valiant comeback attempt. Trailing 22-15, the Midnight Blue and Gold scored six of the next eight points to pull within four, 23-19. A Central Michigan block brought about match point, but the Rockets scored twice to trim the deficit to three, 24-21. One final CMU kill clinched the set and the match, ousting Toledo from the conference tournament.
