TCU
Utah
TCU Drops Hard-Fought Battle At Utah, 3-1
10/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 8, 2009
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - The TCU Horned Frogs dropped a hard-fought battle, 3-1 (32-30, 25-27, 25-27, 18-25) to Utah Thursday night. The first three sets needed extra points to decide the victor and the Frogs came up short in two. Megan Munce tallied her ninth double-double of the season with 37 assists and 17 digs. Christy Hudson led the squad with 14 kills.TCU served up eight aces, but couldn't overcome 13 service errors in the match. Munce tallied four of the aces to go along with her double-double. Kourtney Edwards racked up 12 kills and a career-high five digs to go along with a team-high five blocks. Kristen Hester pitched in seven kills as did Irene Hester. Lauren Otto finished with six kills and 10 digs. Katelyn Blackwood led the Frogs with 22 digs.
In a hotly contested first set, the Horned Frogs were able to rally for the 32-30 victory to take the early match lead. Utah withstood an early push by the Frogs to build an 18-16 lead, but from there TCU took control of the set. Irene Hester brought the Frogs within one with a loud kill and Megan Munce served up back-to-back aces to put the Frogs on top, forcing a Ute timeout.
Kristen Hester kept the tide rolling as she blasted a kill to the back of the court for a two-point lead. Four errors by Utah gave TCU the 24-21 set lead. Utah staved off three set points to tie the set at 24. Three more times the Frogs would have set point and each time the Utes battled back.
Utah turned the tide on the Frogs and twice had set point only to see the Frogs return the favor and hold the Utes off. Christy Hudson blasted a kill off the block to give the Frogs their eighth set point and a Kristen Hester ace finished off the exciting victory.
Set two proved to be much of the same as they went to extra points to decide the set. Utah again built a big lead only to see the Frogs put together a furious rally that was highlighted by four kills from Kourtney Edwards that made it a 15-14 contest.
The back-and-forth affair would continue as Utah clung to its two point lead. A blast from Irene Hester started a 3-0 run that would put the Frogs on top 23-22. However, Utah fought back with a 2-0 run to earn the first set point of the match. A kill from Kristen Hester followed and she teamed with Christy Hudson on a block on the outside to give the Frogs their own set point. A service error spelled doom for the Frogs as it spurred a 3-0 run by Utah as it closed out the 27-25 set two victory, evening the match at a game apiece.
The third set followed suit as both teams scratched and clawed for every point with Utah scraping out a 27-25 victory to take the 2-1 match lead. Utah built an early 6-2 lead only to see the Frogs storm back with a 14-16 run to take a 16-12 lead. Edwards was huge in the rally with four kills and a block.
TCU would hold the lead until the very end as it had set point at 24-22 on a block by Edwards and Munce. Utah staved off two set points to tie the set at 24, but Irene Hester would give the Frogs their third set point at 25-24. Three straight Ute kills turned the set around and gave them the victory.
The Frogs could never regain momentum in the fourth set and the Utes took the match victory with a 25-18 game four win. The Utes raced out to a 17-12 lead, but the Frogs showed fight as they put together a 3-0 run to pull within two, 17-15. Kristen Hester delivered a kill and Munce dropped in an ace, but a Utah timeout squelched the Frog momentum. Utah put together a devastating 8-1 run to send them to match point.
The Frogs fall to 15-5 on the season and 4-2 in league play. The Frogs return to action on Saturday night at BYU. The match is slated for an 8 p.m. start and will air live on BYU-TV.
