BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Toledo women's volleyball team (5-4) concluded its weekend at the Holiday Inn-University Plaza Invitational on Saturday with a five-set loss to Austin Peay.
 
Four of the five sets played on Saturday were decided by two points, and the lone outlier was the second set that was decided by three. Toledo won sets one and three and held late leads in the fourth and fifth sets, but couldn't hold on to complete the win.
 
Junior Taylor Alt turned in her second double-double of the season, tallying a match-high 26 kills and 13 digs. Junior setter Payton Morman had a productive day, collecting 59 assists and a career-high 23 digs while adding two blocks. Senior Olivia Vance recorded 10 kills and a team-best five blocks, while senior Rhyenne Filisi and junior Jada Bouyer both registered 14 terminations. Senior Ryann Jaqua led the Rockets with 32 digs.
 
UT will play its first home matches of the regular season next weekend as a part of the Toledo Challenge.  The Rockets will face Eastern Illinois on Friday, Sept. 16 and Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday, Sept. 17. Duquesne will also participate in the four-team tournament, playing PFW on Friday and Eastern Illinois on Saturday.
 
1^st set (25-23, Toledo)
Toledo dominated the early stages of the first set, storming out to a 14-6 lead. The Govs immediately followed that up with a 4-1 run to trim the deficit to five, then continued to chip away at the Rockets' lead until eventually flipping the script to take a 22-21 advantage. With their backs against the wall, the Rockets tied the score at 22-22 on a huge solo block from Vance, then ended the set with three straight points to win 25-23 and take a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
2^nd Set (25-22, Austin Peay)
Neither team led by more than two points in the second set until Austin Peay went up by three, 19-16, late in the set. After a timeout, Toledo tallied three straight kills from Vance, Alt, and Filisi to tie the score at 19-19, but the Governors answered right back with three straight points to retake a three-point lead. Another 3-0 run for Toledo tied the score at 22-22, then Austin Peay fittingly finished the set with three straight points to win 25-22 and tie the match at 1-1.
 
3^rd Set (29-27, Toledo)
The third set opened with the Rockets taking a 7-2 lead, but Austin Peay scored five straight points to tie things up at 7-7. The Rockets grabbed control of the third set once again, using a 6-1 run to take a 15-11 lead, but the Govs responded by pulling within a point, 16-15. Toledo answered with five straight points to make it 21-15 and went on to take a 23-19 lead, putting Austin Peay on the brink. The Governors responded by scoring four straight points to tie the set at 23-23. From that point on, UT and APSU fought to tie scores at 24-24, 25-25, 26-26, and 27-27 before Alt and Bouyer ended the set with back-to-back kills to put Toledo ahead 2-1 in the match.
 
4^th Set (25-22, Austin Peay)
Toledo and Austin Peay continued to trade blows in the fourth set, which featured 12 ties and a match-high seven lead changes. The Rockets utilized a 5-1 spurt late in the set to take a 19-17 run, but Austin Peay followed with a 5-1 run of its own to take a 22-20 lead. The Governors would go on to win 25-22 and send the match to a decisive fifth set.
 
5^th Set (15-13, Austin Peay)
The fifth set appeared to be going Toledo's way early on, as UT opened up a 3-0 lead thanks to a kill from Alt and two straight blocks. But Austin Peay responded by scoring four straight points and held onto the lead until a 3-0 Rocket run later in the set made it 10-8 in favor of the Midnight Blue and Gold. Toledo nearly kept its lead down to the very end, when a clutch kill from Bouyer made the score 13-12 and put UT two points away from a win. But the Govs' Kelsey Mead tied the set at 13-13 with a kill, and following a Toledo timeout Austin Peay tallied back-to-back blocks to clinch the set and the match.