Courtesy: Toledo Athletics
CHARLESTON, IL - Freshman OH Amber DeWeerdt continued her strong play to lead Toledo (2-3) to a 3-2 (25-16, 25-16,13-25, 19-25, 15-13) victory over Western Illinois (2-4) on Saturday morning in its second match of this weekend’s EIU Panther Challenge. DeWeerdt tallied a match-high 21 kills to along with 17 digs to pace a balanced Rocket attack that saw four players notch double-digit kill totals.
"We played two solid games to start out the match but then we didn’t’ respond well to the adjustments Western Illinois made," Toledo Head Coach Kent Miller said. "We came back strong though to win a tight fifth game, and now we have a chance to win the tournament if we can defeat Eastern Illinois tonight."
Junior OH Stephanie Kersting also registered a double-double for UT with 16 kills and 17 digs, while junior MB Sarah Wilson contributed 12 kills and a team-best .417 attack percentage.
Senior libero Lori Ruth led the Rockets defensively with 28 digs, while junior MB Liz Sundburg produced a team-high four blocks accompanied by 11 kills with a .276 hitting mark.
The Rockets utilized a .350 team hitting mark to defeat the Westerwinds, 25-16 in the first set. DeWeerdt notched six kills to lead the way, while WIU was limited to a team hitting percentage of .085.
The two teams traded points in the second set when Toledo scored 10 unanswered points for a 19-9 lead. UT out-hit Western Illinois by a .432-.267 margin with Kersting notching a team-high five kills.
Coming out of the break down 2-0, the Westerwinds jumped out to a 5-1 start and extended the lead to 12-3. WIU maintained its lead, never allowing more than an eight-point deficit and extending the lead to as many as 14 points (22-8).
WIU took an early lead in the fifth set until UT scored four straight points to take a 9-7 advantage. The Westerwinds answered back with a three-point run though forcing the Rockets to call a timeout. Toledo responded with a 5-1 run to secure the win as DeWeerdt came up big with three of her five kills in the coming late.
UT wraps up the Panther Challenge with an 8:00 p.m. match against host Eastern Illinois.
