Press Release courtesy of Toledo Athletics
The Toledo volleyball team has won five of its last six matches and will return home this weekend to face the top two teams in the East Division of the Mid-American Conference. The Miami RedHawks come to Toledo on Friday, Oct. 20 at 7:00 p.m. and on Saturday, Oct. 21 the Rockets welcome Bowling Green at 5:30 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 20 (7:00 p.m.): Toledo vs. Miami | Live Stats | Live Stream
Saturday, Oct. 21 (5:30 p.m.) Toledo vs. Bowling Green | Live Stats | Live Stream
Fans planning on attending this weekend’s matches will be treated to some fun and exciting promotions courtesy of Toledo athletics marketing:
- Friday
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- Go Pink night is scheduled to promote breast cancer awareness. Fans in attendance will receive pink Toledo volleyball rally towels and headbands.
- Saturday
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- The first 250 fans will receive Toledo crazy hair headbands.
- Free admission for those who participated in Scout Day activities and admission is just $2.00 for those who show their football ticket stub
- As always, there will be post-match autograph opportunities on both Friday and Saturday.
Last Time Out
The Rockets have been on a roll of late, winning five of their last six matches including two last weekend against Ohio (17-25, 25-21, 25-22, 22-25, 19-17) and Kent State (25-23, 25-22, 25-15).
Friday’s match against the Bobcats went five sets and the Saturday victory over the Golden Flashes went three sets. Toledo had three different players – Rachel Vidourek (16), Saige Thomas (14), and Annie Beasley (10) – with at least 10 kills in the match. Two players had over 30 digs: Maurissa Leonard (32) and Lauren Bakaitis (a career-high 31). The match truly earned the title of five-set thriller. UT trailed in both sets two and three before coming back to win and take a 2-1 lead. Ohio won set four which led to a decisive fifth set. The Rockets came out on top, 19-17, after 12 ties and seven lead changes.
Saturday’s duel with Kent State was much more straightforward with Toledo winning 3-0. Vidourek led the charge with 12 kills, Carly Townsend added 40 assists, and Leonard tallied 25 digs against the Golden Flashes. Kent State held late leads in both the first and second sets, leading 20-15 and 21-17, respectively. The Rockets came back both times, though, and closed out the third set on a 13-2 run, an exclamation point on their three-set sweep.
Rockets Sweep MAC West Player of the Week Awards
After their stellar performances last weekend, Leonard and Vidourek were named MAC West Defensive and Offensive Players of the Week.
Leonard was a defensive force last weekend against Ohio and Kent State. She averaged a whopping 7.12 digs per set over the two matches, tallying 32 against the Bobcats and 25 against the Golden Flashes. In the three-set sweep over Kent State, she recorded 13 digs in the third set to help close out the match.
Vidourek had a great weekend as well. She averaged 3.50 kills per set and hit .364 against Ohio and Kent State, and her 1.88 blocks per set led the Rockets. On Friday against the Bobcats she led UT with 16 terminations and a career-high 10 total blocks (four solo, six assists), and the next night against the Golden Flashes she had a team-high 12 kills and hit .355.
By the Numbers
Here are some notable numbers for Toledo:
- Head coach Greg Smith won his 100th at Toledo on Saturday, becoming the fastest coach in program history to reach that benchmark.
- Four Rockets are averaging at least 2.00 kills per set: Saige Thomas (2.84), Vidourek (2.34), Chloee Kleespies (2.14), and Annie Beasley (2.10).
- Leonard now has 1,505 digs in her career and is just 18 away from moving into second place all-time in program history. For the season, she is averaging 5.23 digs per set, fourth in the MAC. The UT individual single-season record for digs per set is 4.79 set by Lora Sarich in 2005.
- Vidourek is hitting .383 in conference games, second-best in the league.
- In the match against Kent State, Toledo had 73 digs. That’s the second-highest three-set match total in the MAC this year, trailing only…Kent State, which had 75 digs in that same match.
- UT is the third MAC school this season to sweep the Player of the Week awards in its respective division. Western Michigan has done it twice and Kent State did it once.
Scouting the Competition
Miami: The RedHawks are 14-7 with a 6-2 record in conference play. After losing two of their first three MAC matches, they have won five straight including four in a row on their home court. Miami leads the MAC in kills per set (13.45) and assists per set (12.27) and ranks third in blocks per set (17.64). Individually, Maeve McDonald ranks third in the conference with 5.31 digs per set, a figure that is 21st nationally.
Bowling Green: After four weeks of conference play, Bowling Green has the best league record at 7-1. After losing its MAC opener to Miami 3-1, BGSU has rattled off seven consecutive conference wins. Kallie Seimet is averaging 6.77 digs per set, which not only leads the MAC but leads all of Division I volleyball. Katie Kidwell is the only other Falcon leading the conference in a significant category, her 1.25 blocks per set are the most in the MAC. Bowling Green is second in the country with 18.81 digs per set.
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