TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo women's volleyball team returns home this weekend to host a pair of MAC East foes in Ohio and Kent State.
The Rockets and Bobcats will face off on Friday at 6:00 p.m. and Toledo will battle the Golden Flashes on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. Both matches will be streamed live on ESPN+.
Entering the final third of the regular season, Toledo (10-12, 8-3 MAC) sits in fourth place in the conference standings and is just one game behind Ball State (12-10, 9-2 MAC) and Buffalo (19-4, 9-2 MAC). Ohio (12-11, 7-4 MAC) and Northern Illinois (8-15, 6-5 MAC) occupy fifth and sixth place. The top six teams will advance to the MAC Tournament, which will be hosted by the top seed.
Last Time Out
Toledo won both of its matches at Akron over the weekend, winning in four sets on Friday and five sets on Saturday.
Taylor Alt became Toledo's all-time career kills leader on Friday, tallying a team-high 15 kills and adding 13 digs for her 10th double-double of the season. She was one of three Rockets to record a double-double on Friday, with Izzy Granger and Macy Hatkevich also achieving that feat. Granger collected 13 kills and 18 digs, while Hatkevich contributed 43 assists and 12 digs. Ryann Jaqua led all players with 22 digs, and Jada Bouyer tabulated 10 kills.
After dropping the first set on Saturday, Toledo won the next two sets to take a 2-1 lead in the match. The Zips extended the match by winning the fourth set, and the Rockets won an extra-long fifth set, 17-15, to cap a 2-0 weekend. Alt led the way with 22 kills on a .308 attack percentage, one off her season-high kill total. Granger and Erickson contributed 12 and 10 kills, respectively, and Erickson led Toledo with seven blocks.
Taylor Alt Breaks Career Kills Record
Alt, who entered this past weekend needing eight kills to break the all-time record held by former Rocket L.G. Bass (1,546 kills, 1984-87), tallied career kill number 1,547 early in the third set at Akron on Friday. The Ottawa, Ohio native's name already litters the record book; she owns two of the 10 highest single-match kill performances in school history, and she owns the fourth and fifth-highest single-season kill totals as well. Alt averages 4.00 kills/set for her career, which is comfortably the best mark in school history.
Ryann Jaqua Approaching History
Another career record could potentially fall before the end of the season, as Ryann Jaqua is 112 digs away from breaking Maurissa Leonard's (2015-18) school record of 2,260. Toledo has seven matches remaining in the regular season. For reference, Jaqua has 164 digs over her last seven matches and has eclipsed 20 digs in all seven contests.
About Ohio
Ohio brings a 12-11 record and a 7-4 MAC ledger into play on Friday. The Bobcats are coming off a 2-0 weekend at Miami that saw Emily Waddell average 2.17 blocks/set en route to earning MAC East Defensive Player of the Week honors. Caitlin O'Farrell ranks fifth in the MAC in kills, averaging 3.49 per set.
About Kent State
Kent State is 5-17 overall and 1-10 in MAC play entering this weekend and will play at Ball State on Friday night. Mackenzie McGuire has been a bright spot for the Golden Flashes and leads the MAC in kills (3.99/set) and scoring (4.32 points/set).
Next Up
The Rockets visit Northern Illinois next weekend for their final two road matches of the regular season.
