CHARLESTON, Ill. - Freshman middle hitter Cait Egan had 11 kills while Erin Frick had 10 and four Westerwinds had double digit digs, but it wasn't enough as Western Illinois fell, 3-2, to Toledo, Saturday.

"Coaching staff is proud of the mental toughness they showed this match," Western Illinois head coach Kym McKay said. "To be behind 0-2 and push it to five is a very tough task mentally and physically."

The Rockets (2-3) used a .350 team hitting percentage to defeat the Westerwinds (2-4), 25-16 in the first set. UT's freshman outside hitter Amber DeWeerdt had six kills to contribute to the team's total 16, while Western tallied 10 team kills for a team hitting percentage of .085.

Western traded points with Toledo as the teams tied four times until 9-9 when the Rockets had 10 unanswered points for a 19-9 lead. Toledo out-hit Western with a .432 team percentage to Western's .267 for another 25-16 set victory. Emily Harrison scored 25 percent of Western's points with four kills, while Sarah Trimpe tallied three kills in the set.

Coming out of the break down 2-0 and looking to turn their fate around, Western jumped out to a 5-1 start with kills from Harrison, Allison Gilbert and Egan. Western extended the lead to 12-3 as Toledo committed attacking errors and Monique Houston and Trimpe had successful attacks. The Westerwinds stayed consistent in the lead, never allowing more than an eight-point deficit and extending the lead to as many as 14 points (22-8). Houston led Western in the set with five kills and stayed alive in the match with a 25-13 win over Toledo. The Westerwinds held the Rockets to a .024 team hitting percentage, the lowest of the match.

"The girls did a great job with making the adjustments that we talked about at the break," McKay said. "They believed in them and executed them and it had an obvious impact on our ability to be successful."

Tied at 2-2, Egan had a kill to push Western in the lead. The team continued with the lead as Egan had four successful blocks, three of which were assisted by Harrison and Toledo committed six attack errors for a 8-3 Western Illinois lead. The Rockets came within three points at 10-7, but Western never let up to defeat Toledo in set four, 25-19.

Western held the lead in the fifth set until UT tied it up at 7-7. As the Rockets took off with the lead, Western caught back up at 9-9 with a back row kill from Frick. Elise Crnjak served up an ace for a 10-9 lead, but Toledo tied up with a DeWeerdt kill and passed Western with an ace. The teams went point for point until Toledo defeated the Westerwinds 15-13 for the match victory.

"Of course it is disappointing to fight back from 0-2 and have such a tight fifth game and not be able to finish the match out," McKay said. "We can use this as a learning experience. The freshmen need to have these experiences as well as the team as a whole. I know that the next time we find ourselves in a tight fifth game we will do a better job of executing when we need it most."

Western notched 11 team blocks to Toledo's six. Trimpe had a double-double with 38 assists and 18 digs. Crnjak led the team in digs with 24, while Ellen Miller tabbed 16 and Brook Stittleburg had 14 to round out the double digits in the dig category.

The Westerwinds wrap up the Holiday Inn Express Panther Challenge with a 4 p.m. match against Chicago State.