Monday, November 12, 2007
TCU volleyball splits weekend road matches
TCU 3, San Diego State 1
The TCU Horned Frogs tallied their 21st win on the season, the second most in school history, with a 3-1 victory at San Diego State Friday night. It was a total team effort as the Frogs hit .304 on the night. LeMeita Smith led all attackers with a match-high 16 kills. Nirelle Hampton and Lauren Otto each picked up a double-double in the game.
It was a tale of two sets to start the match, but the results were the same as the Frogs took a commanding 2-0 lead prior to the intermission. In game one, the Frogs dominated from the first serve as they cruised to the easy, 30-16 victory. A better Aztec squad took the court in game two as the Frogs had to battle back from a late deficit to claim the 30-28 win.
The Horned Frogs sailed out to an early 15-3 lead in the first set, helped along by a powerful front line that proved to much for the Aztec blockers. Kills from Christy Hudson, Nirelle Hampton, Devon Kirk and Kourtney Edwards spurred the run.
Trailing 19-6, the Aztecs put together a 4-0 run to try and get back in the set, but just as quickly, the Frogs responded with a 5-2 run to push the lead back to double-digits. A blast from Kirk followed by her lone ace of the set moved the Frogs to a 28-15 lead. After an Aztec service error gave the Frogs set point, Lauren Otto finished the rout with a kill to the back of the court.
Another strong offensive show by the Frogs in game two helped them overcome a late 25-22 deficit. After opening up a 6-4 lead, the Aztecs went on a 5-0 run to take a three-point lead, 9-6. But the Frogs themselves would string together four straight to regain the lead. Two kills from LeMeita Smith highlighted the run for TCU.
From there, the battle ensued until the Aztecs eventually put together another mini-run to open up their largest lead of the game, 18-13. The Frogs rallied again, pulling within one, 20-19, on three straight kills from Edwards, Kirk and Smith.
They eventually caught the Aztecs with a 5-0 run that gave them a lead they would never relinquish. Hudson started the rally with a kill and back-to-back blasts from Edwards gave the Frogs a one-point lead. Edwards and Otto teamed up to deny an Aztec attack to build the lead to two and Edwards would finish the Frog win with her eighth kill of the match.
Out of the intermission, the Frogs found themselves in an early hole, but they were able to weather the storm as they pushed back to take their first lead of the set on an Otto kill. Behind the serving of Loren Barry, the Frogs would extend their lead to three helped along by two Aztec hitting errors and a Barry ace.
Following an Edwards blast off the block that gave the Frogs a 16-14 lead, the Aztecs went on a 5-0 run to turn the set around and take a lead they would hold the rest of the game. The Frogs would get within one, but San Diego State always had an answer. The Frogs staved off two set points before the Aztecs finally claimed the 30-27 game three win.
Game four played out in a similar fashion, only this time the Frogs were able to grab the late lead and hold on for the victory. With the Aztecs leading 10-9, Smith dropped down two straight kills on the outside to give the Frogs the lead for good. An Edwards solo denial in the middle made it a three-point game and the Frogs cruised from there.
Two more kills from Smith helped the Frogs match their biggest lead of four and Hudson made it a five-point lead with a loud kill on the outside. Leading 25-22, the Horned Frogs closed out the game on 5-1 run. The run started with a Hampton/Edwards block, followed by a kill from Edwards. Smith and Edwards teamed up to give the Frogs match point and Smith sealed the victory with her 16th kill of the match.
The Frog defense was outstanding in the match as four Frogs reached double figures in digs. Hampton and Otto tied for the team lead with 12 digs. Barry had a strong performance in her return to the court with 11 digs and a service ace. Calli Corley was the other Frog to finish with 11 digs.
Otto completed her 11th double-double of the season with 11 kills and Hampton posted her eighth with 48 assists. She fell a kill shy of her third career triple-double, finishing with nine.
The Frogs improve to 21-10 overall and 8-6 in conference play.
UNLV 3, TCU 1
The TCU Horned Frogs suffered a 3-1 (23-30, 30-21, 17-30, 25-30) defeat at No. 25 UNLV Saturday night. TCU was led on the court by Lauren Otto's second straight double-double as she finished with 16 kills and 14 digs. Calli Corley totaled a team-high 15 digs. With 65 digs in the game, the Horned Frogs established a new single-season team record.
The UNLV Rebels put on an outstanding offensive show in game one and so did the Horned Frogs as both teams earned every one of their points. The Rebels, however, racked up 25 kills in the set as they claimed the 30-23 game one victory.
The Frogs fell into a three-point hole early in the game and struggled to string points together in their attempt to get back in the match. A Rebel attack error spurred the Frogs on a 3-0 run that tied the game at 15, which was highlighted by back-to-back kills from Lauren Otto. UNLV responded with a 4-1 run to regain the lead and never looked back.
TCU battled back to tie the match at a game apiece with another strong offensive set in which they hit .548 as a team with 19 kills and held the Rebels to a .222 hitting percentage with just 13 kills.
With the set tied at 11, Nirelle Hampton dropped in a kill to give the Frogs a lead they would never relinquish. Christy Hudson added to the lead with a cross-court blast to give the Frogs a two-point cushion. Following a UNLV service error, back-to-back blocks pushed the Frogs to four-point lead.
Three straight kills from LeMeita Smith gave the Frogs their biggest lead at 21-15 and the Frogs cruised from there. They closed out the game with a 4-0 run highlighted by kills from Edwards, Smith and Hampton to earn the 30-21 win.
Out of the intermission, the Frogs lost the groove they had found in game two as the Rebels took advantage of Frog mistakes and turned them into points as they took the 2-1 match lead. TCU fell behind early and couldn't recover as UNLV ran away with the 30-17 game two win.
Trying to send the match to five games, the Frogs battled hard in game four, but the Frogs couldn't overcome 19 kills from the Rebels. TCU took a 10-8 lead on a solo block from Devon Kirk, but he Rebels would battle back to tie the game. Back-to-back kills from Otto gave TCU its biggest lead of the set, 14-11, forcing a UNLV timeout.
The Rebels turned the set around from their as they went on a 6-1 run to regain a two-point lead. While the Frogs would take a 19-18 lead, they couldn't hold it as the Rebels went on another big run to open up a commanding lead and they went on to claim the 30-25 game four win.
Edwards finished the match with 14 kills and Hudson was the other Frog in double-digits with 10. Kirk totaled a match-high seven blocks. Loren Barry pitched in with 12 digs as well.
The Frogs fall to 21-11 on the season and 8-7 in conference play. They will wrap up regular-season play Thursday night at home when they host top-25 Colorado State at 7 p.m. Following the match, the Frogs will honor three seniors.
Source: TCU
