TCU
Boston College (New England Challenge)
TCU Marks First Win
9/10/2004 12:00:00 AM
Sept. 10, 2004
BOSTON, Mass.- The clash between the TCU Horned Frogs and the Boston College Eagles in the dimly lit gym in Chestnut Hill, Mass., would not go easily to either team. However, the Frogs did take their first win of the season, 3-1, pulling out a tough match over the home team. Senior Ellen Rehme pulled out a career day, officially taking 27 kills in the 30-28, 28-30, 30-26, 30-28 victory.
"Ellen had an excellent match," Head Coach Prentice Lewis praised post-match. "I really feel that she had only about six errors. She completely dominated on the court."
Another key cog in the Horned Frog victory was freshman libero Talaya Whitfield, who collected an amazing school record 34 digs. She beat the previous mark of 28 set by Stephanie Watson back in 2002 against Nicholls State.
Coach Lewis expressed great satisfaction in the Lakewood, Calif., native. "Talaya had phenomenal statistics for a four-game match. She is everything we had planned on in a libero. She just has to keep it up."
Tips and dumps often would not fall for either team, and Rehme's thunderous slam became one of the most successful methods of attack in the aptly named "Power Gymnasium," earning her a near-four hundred hitting percentage. Her magic touch became the Frogs' saving grace, helping them nudge their way to victory. She bettered her previous kill record by one.
The first game was a tightly contested one; the Boston College Eagles led through the eighth point, but from the Horned Frogs caught up with a deflating double-block by sophomore Emily Allen and junior Erin Estep on the right side followed by senior Ellen Rehme's discussion-ending freeball return.
From there on out, it was a give and take situation, where the teams traded points. The Frogs took their opportunity at 21-21, when freshman libero Talaya Whitfield landed an attack from the back row to tie her previous match high kill mark with one. Later in the match she would boost that to two. Rehme followed that stirring point with an attack that flattened BC's Katie Anderson. The Frogs would go on to win the first game 30-28, ended on a kill from Allen.
The Eagles ran away with the second game, stretching the lead to as high a spread as nine points. A BC service error at 14-22 gave the Frogs a window they tried to slide through, pegging away one point at a time. An attack error stymied the Frogs 19-25 and the Eagles got all the way to 21-28 before the Frogs would launch another attack. A service ace by Barry followed by, a point later, a swing from Barry, led to a 26-29 situation. Boston College took a timeout. The Frogs would fight back to a 28-29 position, but an attack from BC's Anderson ended play in her team's favor, 30-28.
The third game began as a duplicate of the second, but the Frogs made a move earlier. Freshman setter Loren Barry, finding her dumps were ineffective, collected three swinging kills during the third contest, and senior Dominika Szabo ended play for the Frogs 30-26 with a gentle tip over the net.
The fourth game continued the teams' penchant for tangling in the net, as the officials so keenly watched the net for any signs of movement, they often stopped play or contributed kills to block errors. One particularly controversial call foiled the Frogs at 21-25, when Allen allegedly ran into the net off her attack. However, TCU pulled out with Szabo's final kill of the day in a 30-28 defeat of Boston College.
"From last week to this week, there have been some good improvements," Coach Lewis commented. "Our consistency is an issue. There are times when we act like a freshman team, when we have communications problems, and times when we play like a senior team - it's a lot of back and forth like that. We're working to get the whole team to play on the same page with consistency.
"Harvard's a very good team," Lewis went on to say. "It's going to be hard to come in and play them at home, especially as their very first match. We look forward to battling with them."
The Horned Frogs take on Harvard at home tonight at 6 p.m. CDT.
