Toledo, Ohio — Mark Rosen was sporting a new look this past weekend at the Rocket Classic, and so was the Michigan volleyball team.

Wearing a brand new V-neck sweater instead of his usual Michigan polo, Rosen was looking to “dress it up” a little bit this year according to Sports Information Director, Sarah VanMetre. But what may have been more noticeable was the Wolverines new makeup on the floor. They were without former starters Veronica Rood, Juliana Paz and Megan Bower, all of who logged significant playing time last year and were integral components in Michigan’s historical run to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.

And instead of winning the first tournament of the season like the Wolverines (2-1) had done the previous four seasons, host Toledo (3-0) upset Michigan in a five-set thriller to win the Classic.

“There’s no question Toledo played loose and very free tonight,” Rosen said. “And we played very tentative and very tight, and I think there’s certainly no question that has to do with expectations and us being ranked … We’ve got to play much more free than we played tonight.”

Following three-set sweeps of Binghampton and Loyola (Md.) on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon, the 12th-ranked Wolverines were faced to play Toledo in the heavyweight match at Savage Arena.

After Michigan’s first-set victory (25-18), it looked as if the Wolverines would reciprocate the previous two matches’ results. Junior middle blocker Courtney Fletcher led Michigan’s offense — which boasted a .265 attack percentage in the opening frame — with five kills in six opportunities.

In the second set, errors cost the inexperienced Wolverines, which committed five service errors along with four receive miscues, adding to a huge swing in momentum for the hometown Rockets. And with the match quickly knotted at two, Michigan saw itself in its first five-set match of a very young season — the Wolverines didn’t play a five-set match last year until 15 matches into the campaign.

“(Toledo) is a fast team and when they are in system, they are hard to stop, and so because we missed so many serves, then we begin to serve soft,” Rosen said. “Now we let them run their offense, and then we couldn’t stop them.”

With Toledo leading the final set, 14-11, the Wolverine fought off three consecutive match points to equal the score. But with the Rockets locked in a one-point lead at 16-15, Michigan couldn’t tie the score yet again, surrendering the set and the match.

Despite the loss, there were a few positives to take from the weekend. Junior outside hitter Alex Hunt, who was a secondary hitter last season behind Paz and Rood, carried the weight of the offense in Toledo, tallying 24 kills in the weekend’s final match. Additionally, the Wolverines boasted a younger lineup than in previous years, sometimes playing three or four freshmen at a time.

But with Rosen and the coaching staff still trying to figure out the lineup, Michigan might suffer through a fair share of growing pains this season, unlike prior seasons.

“Being young isn’t going to be a good excuse,” Rosen said. “We just got to be get better. We have a lot of work to do as coaches and we got a lot of work to do as a team to figure out who we are and how we are going to play and how we are going to be better pretty quickly.”