TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo women's volleyball team (9-4, 2-0 MAC) hosts Central Michigan (9-4, 2-0 MAC) for two matches this week. The Rockets and Chippewas will face off on Thursday, Sept. 29 and Friday, Sept. 30 and both contests will begin at 6:00 p.m.
Thursday's match will be streamed live on ESPN+ and Friday's match will be streamed live on ESPN3.
Toledo brings a four-match winning streak into this week's contests, while Central Michigan is coming off an impressive 2-0 weekend against the reigning MAC Champions Ball State.
Last Time Out
Mid-American Conference play began last weekend and the Rockets captured a pair of victories at Eastern Michigan.
In Thursday's win, The Rockets won 25-20, 25-14, and 25-22 and didn't trail until early in the third set. They turned in a stellar defensive effort on Thursday, tallying 11 total blocks while holding EMU to a .048 attack percentage.
Taylor Alt and
Jada Bouyer led the way offensively with 11 kills apiece. Bouyer's four blocks were tied with
Rhyenne Filisi and just one behind
Olivia Vance for the team lead, while
Ryann Jaqua added a match-high 22 digs.
On Friday, the Rockets won the first two sets convincingly, taking the first frame 25-17 and the second set 25-16 to take a 2-0 lead in the match. The third set was a different story, as the Eagles took a late 22-20 lead and looked to be in a good position to extend the match. But Toledo ended the match with five straight points to complete the sweep and open its first conference weekend with its second win in as many days.
Rocket Notes
- Toledo has won 12 straight sets dating back to Sept. 16 against Eastern Illinois. Last season, the Rockets had a streak of 17 straight sets won from Sept. 25 (first set at Ohio) through Oct. 15 (second set vs. Western Michigan) that ranks as the second-longest such streak in program history. The 2005 team won 18 straight sets at one point in their season, the longest stretch in school history.
- 10 of Toledo's 13 matches played this season have ended in three sets. UT played four sets against both Northern Iowa and CSU Bakersfield and dropped a five-setter to Austin Peay.
- Taylor Alt leads the MAC in scoring (4.33 points/set) and kills (3.79/set). One of the most prolific outside hitters in the country, she ranks 10th among active players in career kills/set (3.94).
- Two of the four highest single-match kill totals by a MAC player this season have come from Alt. She tallied 26 kills against Austin Peay and 25 during opening weekend against CSU Bakersfield.
- Alt has 934 kills entering the weekend, just 66 away from 1,000 for her career. She would become the 11th player in program history to reach 1,000 kills.
- Payton Morman ranks sixth in the MAC in assists/set (9.67). Her 59 assists against Austin Peay are the most in a match by a MAC player this season.
- Ryann Jaqua's career dig total sits at 1,332, sixth all-time in program history. She is 98 digs away from passing former teammate Rhyen Neal (2017-21) to move into fifth place.
- Jaqua's 1,332 career digs are third-most among all MAC players behind Kent State's Erin Gardner (1,879) and Bowling Green's Julia Walz (1,778).
About Central Michigan
The Chippewas opened MAC play last weekend with a pair of wins against Ball State. Senior Maddie Whitfield and freshman Claire Ammeraal were named MAC West Defensive Player of the Week and Setter of the Week, respectively, after CMU's weekend sweep over the Cardinals. The Chippewas rank first in the MAC in blocks (2.24/set) and boast the top blocker in the MAC in Whitfield (1.16/set).
