TCU Wins Cowtown Classic with 3-1 Victory over Villanova

Sunday, September 1

Fort Worth, Texas

1:00 PM

TCU

3-0

Villanova

2-1

Villanova

TCU

Photo by: Sharon Ellman

TCU Wins Cowtown Classic with 3-1 Victory over Villanova

9/1/2019 6:03:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Audrey Nalls wins tournament MVP, Katie Clark and Afedo Manyang earn All-Tournament team

Fort Worth -- TCU Volleyball (3-0, 0-0 Big 12) had The Rickel rocking throughout its 3-1 victory over Villanova (2-1, 0-0 Big East) Sunday afternoon. Freshman outside hitter Audrey Nalls earned her first career double-double (20 kills, 13 digs) as the Frogs took down the visiting Wildcats in four sets: 25-23, 21-25, 25-21, 25-22.

"Really proud of the effort from us tonight," head coach Jill Kramer said. "Our team really got tested by a great Villanova team. They're a junior and senior laden team, so it was really great for a young team like us to be in the mix with them in a competitive match. I don't think it was our prettiest match but we did a really good job of scoring when it mattered most at the end of the set."

TCU NOTABLES:

The win advances TCU's home, non-conference win streak to 13 matches, dating back to 2017.
Nalls led all scorers with 20 kills, the first 20+ kill match of her career. She becomes the first freshman to achieve 20 or more kills in a match since élan McCall delivered 22 at WVU – Nov. 14, 2018.
Nalls finished with 13 digs, giving her the first double-double of her career.
She finished the weekend with 38 kills, 22 digs and six blocks to earn tournament MVP.
Sophomore right side Katie Clark turned in her first double-digit kill match of 2019 with 13 kills, including five in the fourth set. It was the ninth match of her career with 10+ kills.
She finished the weekend with 27 kills on .317 hitting, earning herself All-Tournament team honors.
Freshman middle blocker Afedo Manyang led the team in blocks for the third-consecutive match, turning in four. She also notched another ace, giving her a team-best seven through three matches.
Manyang delivered 13 blocks throughout the weekend (1.3 blocks per set) along with 14 kills and seven aces, receiving All-Tournament honors for her work.
Junior defensive specialist Dani Dennison led the team on the back row with 15 digs, her first double-digit dig match of the season and 39^th of her career.
Junior libero Berklie Baker also turned in 10 digs, giving her 23 double-digit dig matches as a Horned Frog.
For the third match in a row, freshman setter Irem Uçar led the team in assists, notching her first career 20+ assist match with 23.
Freshman setter McKenzie Nichols distributed the ball well again, finishing with 17 assists of her own. She also contributed three kills to the TCU cause.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
Set 1 (TCU, 25-23): For the second consecutive match, the Frogs came out with a vengeance on the net. Eight points into the match, TCU led 6-2 with four of its six points coming from blocks. Nova battled back into the set, tying the score at 19-19, before freshman outside hitter Julia Adams announced her presence. The 6-3 freshman accounted for three of the next five TCU points (two kills and a solo block) before Langs delivered the final kill to give TCU a 25-23 set victory. Clark and Nalls ended up leading the team in kills, finishing with four each. They were the primary offensive weapons until Adams found her groove. TCU finished with six team blocks, led by four from Manyang.

Set 2 (Nova, 21-25): The visiting Wildcats found an offensive rhythm in the second set, hitting .353 as a team. The Frogs countered with one of the most dominant offensive sets by an individual this season, courtesy of Nalls. The Waxahachie native was a machine, finishing with seven kills. It wouldn't be enough though and Villanova took the second set.

Set 3 (TCU, 25-21): The third set started with a flurry of kills, including three from Manyang to account for three of TCU's first six points. The Frogs jumped out to a 14-11 lead before Villanova found its way back into the set with a run to tie it back at 15-15. The set would stay tied until 20-20, when the Frogs took five of the last six points to regain control of the match. Clark had a kill and an ace in the run, along with kills from Nalls, Manyang and Adams.

Set 4 (TCU, 25-22): Villanova seemed poised to take the match to five sets when they took an 18-14 lead into a TCU timeout. But the Frogs regrouped after the stoppage, roaring back tp win 10 of the next 12 points and flip the match on its head, 24-20. Clark was the main culprit in the run, accounting for four kills while Adams pitched in two and Dennison added a pair of back-to-back aces. The final blow came from Nalls as she polished off her 20^th kill of the match to give TCU it's third win of the season.

UP NEXT:
The Horned Frogs will rest up before hosting their second of three non-conference tournaments next weekend. TCU will host Colorado State, Florida Atlantic and Florida State in the Fight in the Fort, Sept. 6-8 inside The Rickel.

For more information on TCU Volleyball visit GoFrogs.com and follow @TCUVolleyball on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.