Sept. 26, 2003
OXFORD, Ohio - In its Mid-American Conference opener on Friday evening, the Miami volleyball team took down the Toledo Rockets in three games (32-30, 30-20, 30-28) to improve its record to 7-9 on the season. Senior Tara Buroker (Bluffton, Ohio/Bluffton) led the way to victory with 14 kills and a .370 hitting percentage, while the entire team hit .272 (46-18-103) for the match.
In the first game of the match, which saw 15 ties and six lead changes, Miami needed extra points to decide a winner as it finally came away with the 32-30 victory. Eight service errors by the Red and White kept it a close game as the Toledo hitters connected on only .079 (14-11-38) of their hits. Buroker notched six kills, while sophomore Lauren Slusser (Columbus Grove, Ohio/Columbus Grove) and freshman Jordan Centers (Norwalk, Ohio/St. Paul) each tagged three kills.
Toledo made a late charge in the first game, thanks in part to the hitting of junior Rachel Mohler and sophomore Corrie Magnus who had five and four kills, respectively.
Miami opened up a four-point lead, 9-5, in the second game on a strong serving run from junior Kristen Walters (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee). Strong serving expanded that early lead for the RedHawks to seven, 24-17, which forced Toledo's head coach to call timeout. The RedHawks went on the win the game 30-20 with balanced hitting, .217 (10-5-23), and zero service errors. In fact, the Rockets had more kills, 12-10, than the Red and White, but also committed 10 hitting and six service errors, respectively.
With the RedHawks attempting the three-game sweep, Toledo jumped out to a 21-17 lead to force the issue on the home team. Miami and Buroker, who had 14 kills in the final game, outscored Toledo 13-11 down the stretch to win the decisive third game, 30-28.
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Clark won the setters battle also for the RedHawks, recording 34 assists and three kills on four attempts, compared to her counterpart, Toledo's Carrie McCaw, who had 31 assists and two kills on eight attempts.
Mohler was the leading hitter for the Rockets with nine kills and a .238 hitting percentage (9-4-21). Magnus also chipped in with seven kills for Toledo.
Narrowly missing a double-double for Miami was senior Angie Zent (Fort Wayne, Ind./Northrop), who had nine kills and nine digs in the match.
The win gives the RedHawks a 7-8 record and 1-0 record in conference action. Toledo drops to 4-9 on the year and 0-1 in the MAC. Miami continues its conference homestand tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. against visting Northern Illinois.
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