TCU
Utah
Frogs rally to stun Utah in five
10/7/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 7, 2007
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - Trailing 2-0 out of the intermission, the TCU Horned Frogs rallied to top the Utah Utes in five games (21-30, 26-30, 30-26, 30-23, 15-13). It was a career night for senior Calli Corley as she set a personal best with 33 digs in the match and became the all-time career leader in digs. She now has 1,229 digs in her career. LeMeita Smith and Kourtney Edwards were the offensive stars with 17 and 16 kills respectively.
Corley reached a milestone in the second set as she recorded her 11th dig of the match, making her TCU's all-time leader in digs. She surpassed Marci Kings total of 1,197. She also reached the 1,200 dig plateau in the set as well.
An outstanding effort in game five by the Frogs completed the comeback as they earned the hard fought 15-13 win to seal their third conference win of the season. It was the Edwards and Smith show as they combined for 11 of the Frogs' 14 kills in the set.
The Utes took a 7-6 lead, but a 4-0 run by the Frogs as they took a commanding 10-7 lead erased it. Three kills from Edwards spurred the Frogs forcing the Utes to call a timeout. Six straight side outs made it a 13-10 lead.
Utah pulled within one with a 2-0 run, but Irene Hester silenced the Utes giving the Frogs a 14-12 lead. Utah got a kill to pull back to within one, but Edwards completed the comeback with her seventh kill of the set.
The Frogs comeback started in game three. Despite Utah building a commanding 22-15 lead late in the set, the Horned Frogs held strong and stormed back into the set. An attack error by Kathryn Haynie spurred an 8-1 rally that tied the game at 23.
Three kills from Smith, a kill from Kirk and a block from Kirk and Hampton pushed the Frogs to a 28-24 lead. Back-to-back blasts from Smith sealed the 30-26 game three win for the Frogs.
The Frogs had to rally from another early deficit in game four as they made a bid to push the match the distance. Trailing 13-9, the Frogs went on a 6-0 run to take a lead they would never relinquish in the set. Smith started the rally with another loud kill and Barry and Kirk kept the momentum rolling with kills. A Corley ace followed by Smith/Kirk denial made it a 15-13 lead.
With the scored knotted an 18, Edwards dropped in a kill and the Utes committed three straight hitting errors to give the Frogs a 22-18 lead. The Utes closed within two, but a ball handling error and a kill from Hampton pushed the lead back to four. Barry gave the Frogs set point and an attack error from the Utes tied the set at two.
The Utes led wire-to-wire in game one as they stormed out to a commanding 22-15 lead. Utah withstood a late TCU rally as they closed out the game on a 4-2 run to take the 30-21 victory in game one.
Nirelle Hampton dropped in five kills in the set, but the Frogs couldn't overcome 19 kills from the Utah offense.
Game two saw the Utes storm out to a big lead, only to see the Frogs rally to make it a close set. The Frogs used a 6-0 run in the middle of the contest to make it a two-point game, 13-11.
The Utes withstood the rally and pushed their lead back to seven 24-17. The Frogs built momentum for the rest of the contest as they closed out the game on a 13-6 run despite Utah claiming the 30-26 game two win.
Hester and Kirk joined the double-digit kill club with 13 and 10, respectively. The 10 kills for Hampton gave her a double-double in the match to go along with her 47 assists. She also tallied seven blocks and eight digs in the game. Barry was huge defensively as she pitched in with 20 digs and tallied three aces. Edwards posted her first career double-double, adding 10 blocks to her 16 kills.
The Frogs snap their four-game losing streak to improve to 16-6 on the season and 3-3 in league play. They return home to host UNLV Friday night. Game time is set for 7 p.m. at the University Rec Center.
