Rockets' Rally Falls Short in 3-1 Loss to Iowa - 13abc.com Toledo (OH) News, Weather and Sports

Rockets' Rally Falls Short in 3-1 Loss to Iowa

ROCHESTER, MI - Toledo's rally against Iowa fell short on Saturday morning in a 3-1 (18-25, 25-14, 22-25, 23-25) defeat to the Hawkeyes at Oakland's Golden Grizzlies Invitational.

Junior OH Lauren Rafdal and junior RSH Becca Reidy shared team kill honors with 12 terminations apiece. Junior MB Dakota Harkins and junior OH Jordan Kielty also contributed to the Rockets' balanced attack with nine and eight kills, respectively. Junior S Adria Pryor tallied a career-high 41 assists as the quarterback of UT's offense.

Sophomore MB Brooke Frazer spearheaded a tremendous defensive effort at the net with a career-high eight blocks. Four other Rockets also notched three or more blocks as UT registered a season-high 13 rejections. Senior libero McCall Paynter led UT with 15 digs and was joined in double figures by Kielty (12) and Reidy (11).

 "We played better today than last night, but we need to find more consistency out on the court," Toledo Head Coach Greg Smith said. "There are a lot of good things that we're doing especially defensively and getting our outside hitters to score more, but not being able to put an entire match together has been an Achilles heel for us."

After falling in Set 1 to the Hawkeyes, UT responded quickly in the second set by surging to a 6-1 lead and never looking back. Rafdal paced the Rockets in the set with four kills, while Frazer tallied four blocks.

UT then allowed the Hawkeyes to control play early in Set 3 and trailed 22-14 before making a valiant comeback attempt. The Rockets strung seven straight points together to climb within 22-21, but Iowa regrouped to secure a 25-22 victory.

Toledo appeared to be ready to extend the match to a fifth set when it took a 16-12 lead in Set 4, but their Big Ten foe evened the score at 18-18 with a 6-2 spurt. The teams then exchanged points until Iowa scored the match's final three points for the win.