TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo women's volleyball team concluded the regular season with an impressive victory on Wednesday night, sweeping Ball State in three sets at Savage Arena.
The win was the Rockets' (13-16, 11-7 MAC) first over the Cardinals (16-13, 13-5 MAC) since Sept. 28, 2017, which was also a three-set victory at home.
Toledo will be the No. 5 seed in this weekend's MAC Tournament and will face No. 4 seed Ohio on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. in Kalamazoo. The Rockets are in the MAC Tournament for the third straight season.
Toledo won the first two sets, 25-23 and 25-18, to go up 2-0 in the match. The third set was never in doubt for UT, as it won 25-13 to put an emphatic end on its regular season.
"I am proud of the team," head coach
Jason Oliver said. "We came in with a game plan and we executed at a high level. Ball State is a great team and we just found timely plays that put us over the top. What a way to end the regular season with a great win in Savage Arena in front of some our awesome Rocket fans. This will propel us to hopefully a great showing on Saturday."
Freshman
Macy Hatkevich had 37 assists and helped Toledo attack at a .299 clip. Senior
Taylor Alt had a match-high 12 kills and sophomore
Izzy Granger added 10 terminations. Fifth-year senior
Ryann Jaqua had 20 digs, the lone player on Wednesday to tally at least 20 digs.
1st Set (25-23, Toledo)
Both teams traded points early, but Ball State took the first significant lead of the night when a 6-1 run put the score at 14-10. The Cardinals led for much of the first set and held a 21-20 lead in the latter stages, until three straight Rocket points put them ahead, 23-21. Toledo held on to win, 25-23, with
Jada Bouyer's kill providing the clinching point.
Taylor Alt had six of her 12 kills in the first set.
2nd (25-18, Toledo)
Ball State led early, but a quick 4-0 spurt for Toledo put the score at 13-11 in favor of the home team. The Cardinals pulled within a point, 14-13, but another kill from Bouyer sparked a run of four straight UT points to make it 18-13.
Rhyenne Filisi ended the second set with three straight kills to lead the Rockets to a 25-18 win and a 2-0 lead in the match. Toledo hit .359 in the third frame, its best figure of the night.
3rd (25-13, Toledo)
The Rockets grabbed an early 5-1 lead and never looked back. Though the Cardinals pulled within a point at 9-8, Toledo ended the match by scoring 16 of the final 21 points to cruise to a 25-13 win.
Izzy Granger had two of UT's five service aces in the third set.
2023 MAC Tournament
Saturday-Monday, Nov. 18-20
Kalamazoo, Mich.
Saturday, Nov. 18
Game 1: No. 4 Ohio vs. No. 5 Toledo – 4:00 p.m.
Game 2: No. 3 Ball State vs. No. 6 Bowling Green – 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 19
Game 3: No. 1 Western Michigan vs. Game 1 Winner – 4:00 p.m.
Game 4: No. 2 Buffalo vs. Game 2 Winner – 6:30 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 20
Game 5: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner – 6:30 p.m.
