WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Toledo women's volleyball team opened the 2023 season with a split decision in tournament action at Wake Forest on Friday. The Rockets defeated Northeastern in five sets to begin the day and fell to the host Demon Deacons in three sets in their second match. 

Toledo began the day with a marathon five-setter vs. Northeastern. After falling behind 2-1 in the match, UT won the fourth set and outlasted the Huskies in the fifth set to open the 2023 season with a 3-2 victory. In the nightcap, the Rockets hung tough vs. ACC opponent Wake Forest, but wasn't able to come away with a set vs. the tournament hosts, falling 3-0.

"The first match of the year is always an adventure," head coach Jason Oliver said about his team's contest vs. Northeastern. "I thought Northeastern played well. They put us in tough situations and I am happy with our resolve."

Senior Taylor Alt led the charge in the first match, leading all comers with 22 kills. Sophomore Izzy Granger career-highs with 17 kills and 19 digs, the first double-double of her career. Senior Mary-Kate Lopez and freshman Macy Hatkevich split setting duties and tallied 24 and 21 assists, respectively, while fifth-year senior Ryann Jaqua added a match-high 22 digs.

In the Wake Forest match, senior Jada Bouyer led Toledo with 11 kills while hitting .444. Jaqua added 15 digs and senior Abby Erickson collected six terminations.

"What a great experience tonight for our team," Oliver said in reference to the match vs. Wake Forest. "Wake brought their A-game and provided an unbelievable environment to compete in.  The devil is in the details and we let that get away from us tonight. I am excited to right the ship against a great Grand Canyon team tomorrow."

The Rockets face Grand Canyon on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. to close out their weekend.

Toledo 3, Northeastern 2

1st Set (25-22, Northeastern)

Northeastern never trailed in the first set and led by as many as nine points, 22-13. Despite the large deficit, Toledo never gave up and went on to score the next seven points to shave the Huskies' lead to two, 22-20. Granger tallied back-to-back terminations to keep Toledo alive, but Northeastern closed out the first set to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

2^nd Set (25-19, Toledo)

The Rockets flipped the script in the second set, grabbing an early lead and not looking back. UT briefly built a double-digit lead, 21-11, before Northeastern scored five straight points to make it 21-16. Toledo finished off the Huskies and won, 25-19, to even the match at 1-1. The Rockets' defense held Northeastern to a paltry .000 attack percentage in the second frame.

3^rd Set (25-18, Northeastern)

Toledo scored seven of the first nine points in the third set to take a 7-2 lead, but Northeastern answered with a lengthy scoring run of its own. The Huskies used a 10-2 run to take a 12-9 advantage and wouldn't trail for the rest of the set. The Rockets would end up on the losing end of a 25-18 final score, putting them in a 2-1 hole. 

4^th Set (25-22, Toledo)

The most back-and-forth set of the match featured seven early lead changes. Trailing 10-9, Toledo scored four straight points, two coming on kills from Alt, to take a 13-10 advantage. Northeastern would fight back to tie the score at 17-17, but two quick points gave Toledo the lead for good. UT would go on to win the fourth set, 25-22, to force a decisive fifth set. 

5^th Set (15-12, Toledo)

Alt dominated the fifth set, hitting .727 and tallying eight kills to help lead the Rockets to their season-opening victory. Northeastern scored the first three points of the set, but back-to-back kills from Alt and an ace from Granger tied the score at 3-3. The two teams traded points and fought to a 12-12 stalemate, at which point the Rockets scored three straight to win the set and the match. Alt ended the back with two straight kills to seal the deal. 

Wake Forest 3, Toledo 0

1^st Set (25-23, Wake Forest)

Toledo grabbed control of the match early, taking a 10-7 lead over Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons responded by scoring five of the next six points to take a 12-11 advantage, but a kill from Bouyer tied the score at 12-12. That would be the last time UT would hold a share of the lead in the first set until a furious late rally culminated in a kill from Rhyenne Filisi that tied the score at 23-23. Wake Forest scored the final two points of the set, however, to win 25-23.

2^nd Set (25-17, Wake Forest)

The Rockets never led in the second set, though they did pull to within a point at 16-15. Wake Forest then called a timeout to regroup and rattled off a 5-1 run to take a 21-16 lead. The final score would settle at 25-17 and put UT in a 2-0 hole.

3^rd Set (25-22, Wake Forest)

Toledo appeared to be putting itself in a position to extend the match after taking a 14-10 lead in the third set, but the Demon Deacons had other ideas. They scored five straight points to take a 16-15 lead and would not trail for the remainder of the match. Toledo cut the deficit to two points late in the set, but ended up on the wrong end of a 25-22 decision.