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, MN/Eden Prairie) (Eden Prairie, Minn.) led CSU with 12 digs and contributed five assists, while redshirt junior Shamara Clark (Bloomington, IN/South) (Bloomington, Ind.) notched five kills. Freshman Mazvita Maziveyi (Harare, Zimbabwe/Hillside (NC)) (Durham, N.C.) added seven digs and four kills, junior Chy Crichton (The Dalles, OR/Mt. Hood CC) (The Dalles, Ore.) recorded five assists and two service aces, and junior Niena Posey (Chicago, IL/Lincoln College) (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~
