Box Score
CHARLESTON, Ill. – Freshman Amber DeWeerdt recorded a match-best 12 kills as Toledo captured a 3-0 victory over Chicago State Friday afternoon in the first match of the Holiday Inn Express Panther Challenge at Lantz Arena on the campus of Eastern Illinois. The Rockets improve to 1-3 with the win and the loss drop the Cougars to 0-5 on the year.
Sophomore Hanya Minta (Eden Prairie, Minn.) led CSU with 12 digs and contributed five assists, while redshirt junior Shamara Clark (Bloomington, Ind.) notched five kills. Freshman Mazvita Maziveyi (Durham, N.C.) added seven digs and four kills, junior Chy Crichton (The Dalles, Ore.) recorded five assists and two service aces, and junior Niena Posey (Chicago, Ill.) had a pair of blocks.
Toledo posted an early 7-0 advantage in the opening set behind the serve of senior Lori Ruth and later increased its lead to 12-2 on a kill from freshman Cassie Kleespies. A DeWeerdt kill later closed a 10-4 scoring drive by the Rockets that hiked the leading martin to 22-6. UT concluded the set with a service ace from freshman Kassie Kadera and a kill by junior Sarah Wilson.
The Rockets broke a 1-1 tie that began the second set with seven service points, including a pair of service aces, from Kadera en route to an 8-1 lead. Chicago State responded by scoring eight of the next 12 points to slice its deficit to 12-9 after Crichton nailed back-to-back service aces. An 8-2 run by Toledo extended its advantage back to 20-11 after Kadera recorded consecutive service aces before it tallied five of the set’s final nine points to enter the break with a two-set lead.
UT opened the third set with a 5-0 lead behind a pair of DeWeerdt kills, but the Cougars rallied to close the gap to 5-3 on a kill from Clark and a hitting error. The Rockets then posted a 15-7 run which increased their advantage to 20-10 which ended with back-to-back kills from junior Lyndsey Holt. Both teams managed to split the final 10 points with Toledo capturing the match-clinching point on a hitting error by the Cougars.
Kadera finished with match highs of 35 assists and seven service aces, while Kleespies added nine kills and junior Stephanie Kersting produced a match-best 18 digs with six kills. Ruth produced 15 digs and Wilson added six kills. Holt posted a .714 hitting percentage with five kills on seven attempts.
CSU concludes play at EIU tomorrow with a pair of matches at Lantz Arena. The Cougars face the host Panthers beginning at 1 p.m. before playing Western Illinois in their tournament finale at 4 p.m.
~CSU~