TOLEDO, OH - Toledo's valiant comeback attempt from a 2-0 deficit came up just short in the Rockets' 3-2 (26-24, 25-22, 20-25, 16-25, 15-12) loss to Bowling Green at Savage Arena in the first round of the 2009 MAC Tournament. The No. 11 seed Falcons will now advance to a 1:30 p.m. quarterfinal matchup with No. 3 seed Miami on Friday, Nov. 20 at the SeaGate Centre.

"The team had a choice to make after losing the first two sets," Toledo Head Coach Greg Smith said. "They could have given up or come back and play hard. We showed tremendous fight, and we had the momentum early in the fifth set. Bowling Green just kept chipping away and they deserve a lot of credit for how well they played. We just came out on the short end."

After tying the match at two sets apiece, Toledo took an early 5-2 advantage and led 7-4 when the Falcons tallied four straight points to go ahead, 8-7. UT then fell behind 11-9 before a kill and ace evened the match at 11-11. The set remained tied after two service errors and BGSU ended the match with a pair of kills from senior OH Corey Domek and a Rocket attack error.

Freshman OH Sondra Parys led UT offensively with a match-high 23 kills with sophomore OH Amber DeWeerdt also in double figures with 15 terminations. Senior MB Liz Sundburg (eight kills, .471 ATK%) along with freshman MB Bethany Irwin (seven kills, .357 ATK%) and freshman OH Bailey Blank (six kills, .250 ATK%) also contributed to the Rocket attack. Irwin also posted a team-high four blocks.

"All four of our freshmen made a lot of contributions tonight," Smith said. "Sondra led us with 23 kills, and Bailey and Bethany both came off the bench and did a good job for us when we needed them to. We told the team after the match that the future is bright for this program. Despite the loss, we're very proud of what we accomplished. I think this is the start of something great for us, and this season will serve as the building blocks for us. Hopefully we can learn from this loss and continue to move forward."

Toledo produced a stellar defensive performance in the contest with four Rockets tallying 20 or more digs. Junior libero Katie Westerfeld led the way with 25 digs and was joined by DeWeerdt (24), sophomore S Kassie Kadera (career-high 22) and freshman DS McCall Paynter (career-high tying 21).

"We did a really nice job defensively," Smith said. "We made some adjustments and the girls took those and ran with them. Bowling Green started to tip on us so we changed our defense accordingly. That helped our transition picked up and it showed later in the match up."

Senior OH Corey Domek led Bowling Green's offense with 20 kills, while junior libero Alex Zlabis tallied a career-high 31 digs.

The Rockets held the edge in most of the major statistical categories - kills (65-61), attack percentage (.198-.197), digs (113-98), aces (4-3) - and were even in blocks (10-10).

UT jumped out to a quick 7-1 advantage in the first set and didn't trail until Kaitlin Jackson's kill gave the Falcons a 21-20 advantage. After falling behind 24-22, the Rockets fought back to even the score at 24-24 on a Parys kill and a block from Sundburg and sophomore OH Cassie Kleespies. BG then won the set, 26-24, following back-to-back kills from senior Shari Luther and Domek.The second set was also close throughout with the Falcons leading most of the way. After UT tied the score at 16-16, the visitors took control with a 5-1 spurt en route to a 25-22 win.

Toledo stayed alive in the match in the third set with a late run en route to a five-point win. With the score tied at 18-18, the Rockets scored four straight points on kills from DeWeerdt, Irwin and Kadera as well as a block from Irwin and DeWeerdt. Following a Falcon timeout, Westerfeld garned a kill off a dig and the Falcons followed that with an attack error.

The Rockets carried their momentum into the fourth set and neither team could take control early on. Back-to-back kills from Parys put UT up 13-10 and a five-point spurt gave Toledo a 19-12 lead and sent the match to a fifth and deciding set.