Rockets volleyball flops at the finish

The University of Toledo women’s volleyball team lost both of their final matches of the season this past weekend.

Going up against Western Michigan and division-leading Northern Illinois, the Rockets remained competitive throughout both matches, but couldn’t pull out a victory in either.

In the first match against NIU, things opened up pretty evenly, with each team making their own runs throughout the set. There were ten ties and five lead changes alone in the first set.

Toward the end, Toledo had the score tied up at 22, but then proceeded to commit a handful of errors, which led to the Huskies taking the first set, 25-23. From there on out, it was downhill for the Rockets.

In the second set, second-year Gracey Tuifua tallying seven kills in the set. Toledo would eventually fall 22-25 and then 25-11 in the third. The match improved NIU’s record to 22-5 on the season and a strong 14-1 in league play.

For the match, Tuifua led the Rockets with nine kills total. Third-year Saige Thomas followed behind with six of her own.

In the second match, Toledo took on the Broncos of Western Michigan. The first set was even all the way up until the end, when the Rockets and Broncos were tied 25-25. Third-year Rachel Vidourek proceeded to close out the set with two kills, giving Toledo a 27-25 set win.

Set two remained close as well, until Western went on a run to eventually take the set 25-17. The Rockets kept things close by the final two sets but lost both 25-21 and 25-20, respectively.

The women’s volleyball team finished the season 15-13 overall and 8-8 in conference play and will be competing in the MAC Tournament for the first time since 2013.

Their first match will be on Thursday, Nov. 17, playing the Kent State Golden Flashes. If they win, they will move on Friday to play the Ohio Bobcats.

The tournament will be hosted by the regular season champion Huskies in DeKalb, Illinois. The final and semifinal matches will be televised on ESPN3.