KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Toledo women's volleyball team extended its stay at the 2023 Mid-American Conference Tournament with a 3-1 win in its opening match against No. 4-seed Ohio.

No. 5-seed Toledo will now face No. 1-seed Western Michigan in the semifinals on Sunday at 4:00 p.m.

The Rockets' victory is their first tournament win since 2016 and they now advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2010.

Toledo won the first set, 25-23, to go up 1-0 in the match before Ohio answered with a 25-20 victory to tie the match at 1-1. UT won the third and fourth sets, 25-18 and 25-20, to win the match 3-1 and advance to the semifinals. The Rockets hit .303 and .286 in the final two sets to outpace the Bobcats and come away with the win.

"I am so proud of these student-athletes," head coach Jason Oliver said. "They played their hearts out and really found a way to win against a very talented and well-coached team. This is what we have been talking about for three years. Finding our best play in this time of year. We found that tonight and hopefully it will give us confidence going into tomorrow."

Freshman Macy Hatkevich had 38 assists and tallied seven kills. Senior Taylor Alt had a match-high 14 terminations, while both senior Jada Bouyer and sophomore Izzy Granger added nine kills apiece. Alt, Erickson, and fifth-year senior Rhyenne Filisi all had three blocks, while fifth-year senior Ryann Jaqua had 19 digs.

1^ST (25-23, Toledo)
Toledo and Ohio went back and forth early in the match until Macy Hatkevich scored her first kill of the afternoon to put UT ahead 15-14 into the media timeout. Ohio had a late three-point run to take a 23-19 lead, but the Rockets fought back to tie the match at 23-23. Abby Erickson had the set-clinching kill to give Toledo a 1-0 match lead. UT held OU to its lowest hitting percentage of the night at .075 in the first frame.

2^ND (25-20, Ohio)
Ohio scored the opening point of the set, but Toledo was not frazzled. After a four-point run by the Rockets sparked by an Alt termination, the Bobcats went on an 8-3 run of their own to take a 15-13 lead halfway through the set. The Rocket fought off two set points, but OU's Anna Kharckynska ended the set with a kill to tie the match at 1-1.

3^RD (25-18, Toledo)
The match was tied 5-5 when Alt provided the kill to spark a four-point run to give Toledo a small cushion at 9-5. Erickson brought the power with a termination and UT scored seven of the next nine points to push ahead 19-12. The Bobcats chipped away at their deficit to make it 23-18, but Granger came through with the back-to-back kills to give UT a 2-1 match lead. Toledo hit .303 in the third set, its best figure of the afternoon.

4^th (25-20, Toledo)
Bouyer set the tone of the fourth set with an opening kill on the outside. Toledo and Ohio went back and forth for the majority of the set, neither team getting ahead by more than three points. Tied at 16-16, Alt sent a bullet to the back line to give Toledo a one-point advantage and never let go of the lead for the remainder of the game. Boyer provided the match-clinching termination for the 25-20 set win and 3-1 match win.

2023 MAC Tournament
Saturday-Monday, Nov. 18-20
Kalamazoo, Mich.

Saturday, Nov. 18
Game 1: No. 5 Toledo 3, No. 4 Ohio 1
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. No. 5 Toledo – 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.