TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo women's volleyball team (6-4) swept Eastern Illinois (5-7) in its home opener on Friday night. The Rockets won 25-20, 25-13, and 25-15 at Savage Arena to close out day one of the Toledo Challenge.
"I am happy with the way the team came out and played in front of an awesome Savage Arena crowd," head coach
Jason Oliver said. "The very first home match is a test of our focus and I thought the crowd really gave us a great boost in confidence. We played with passion and the environment in Savage was amazing."
Toledo led for nearly the entire match and held Eastern Illinois to a .000 attack percentage. The Rockets hit .287 and tallied nine blocks in the three-set sweep.
Senior
Rhyenne Filisi registered a team-best five blocks and senior
Olivia Vance was close behind with four. Vance added seven kills and hit .583, only trailing juniors
Taylor Alt (nine) and
Jada Bouyer (eight) in terminations. Junior
Payton Morman collected 28 assists and senior
Ryann Jaqua tallied a match-high 17 digs.
The Toledo Challenge will conclude on Saturday with two matches. Eastern Illinois will face Duquesne at 1:30 p.m. before Toledo hosts Purdue Fort Wayne at 4:00 p.m.
1st Set (25-20, Toledo)
Eastern Illinois took a 9-6 lead to start the evening, but a 7-1 run for the Rockets turned a three-point deficit into a three-point lead at 13-10. The Panthers scored two straight points to cut UT's lead to one, but Filisi followed that up with a big kill to up the score to 14-12. After EIU rallied to tie the set at 14-14, the Rockets scored six of the next seven points to take a commanding 20-15 lead. Alt provided the clinching point with a kill to end the first set at 25-20 and put Toledo ahead 1-0.
2nd Set (25-13, Toledo)
Toledo opened the second frame on a 5-1 run and didn't look back, never trailing at any point in the set. The Rockets dominated the second set, hitting .333 and leading by as many as 14 at one juncture. The final score settled at 25-13 to put UT ahead 2-0 in the match. Filisi tallied three kills, a block, and an ace in the second set to help the cause.
3rd Set (25-15, Toledo)
EIU opened the third set with a 3-2 lead, but four straight points for the Rockets put them ahead 6-3 and prompted the Panthers to use their first timeout. Toledo then rattled off five straight points, a run that was punctuated by a service ace from Alt, to up its lead to 11-3. The Panthers never seriously challenged the Rockets for the rest of the match, and Vance would go on to record the final point of the match on a kill to end the third set, 25-15, and complete the sweep.
