Horned Frogs Drop Five Setter

Friday, September 10

Fort Worth, Texas

7 PM

TCU

Houston Baptist

Horned Frogs Drop Five Setter

9/10/2021 11:17:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score TCU vs. HBU Box Score

TCU Sets Program Record for Consecutive Set Wins in Loss

FORT WORTH –TCU volleyball (5-3) dropped its first home match of the 2021 season on Friday night, 3-2, to Houston Baptist (25-16, 22-25, 26-28, 25-16, 13-15) inside Schollmaier Arena. TCU won the first set, setting a new program record for consecutive sets won, with 16, but hitting errors and strong defense from HBU led to the loss.

"Our team has taken it really seriously to protect our home court, so that's the most disappointing part of the evening," head coach Jill Kramer said. "We came in to tonight knowing that HBU was a great defensive team, and they were. They dug a lot of balls. I thought we were really great in the beginning but I didn't see us truly step it up until the fifth set. We were up and down for the whole match with some really high highs and then some times that we were very error prone. This was the first time that we have gone past three sets, it's a learning point for our squad this season. We'll get back at it tomorrow and work on us. It's early in the season and we've got a lot of volleyball matches left to play. Our heads are in the right spot. We know we could have been better and we're going to get back to work."

TCU NOTABLES:

The Horned Frogs set a new program record for longest set winning streak, with 16.
McKenzie Nichols delivered her third-straight double-double, scoring 53 assists and 10 digs. It is the second longest double-double streak of her career after doing so in four-straight matches last season. She is TCU's active leader with 19 career double-doubles.
She set a new career high with four service aces tonight without committing an error.
Nichols finishes the week averaging 11.00 assists/set, 0.45 aces/set, 2.82 digs/set and 0.73 blocks/set.
Afedo Manyang led the TCU offense with a season-high 17 kills, her second-highest kill total as a Horned Frog.
Audrey Nalls delivered her first double-double of the 2021 campaign, finishing with 16 kills and 13 digs. This was her first double-double since her freshman season in 2019 and the fourth of her career.
Cecily Bramschreiber posted her first-career 20+ dig match, finishing with 24. She finished the Fight in the Fort averaging 3.55 digs/set.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
Set 1 (TCU, 25-16): For the third match this week, TCU jumped in front early in the opening set. The Frogs won five of the first six points thanks to a pair of aces from Nichols. HBU bounced back, coming within one point, 6-5, before TCU went on a 6-1 scoring run, reestablishing the lead, 12-6. The Forgs never let HBU within five points from that point on, cruising to a nine-point set victory and setting the program record for the most sets won in a row at 16. TCU spread the ball around well with five hitters posting multiple kills. Adams led the attack with four on nine swings. Nalls filled up the stat sheet in the opening set, finishing with three kills on four swings (.750 hitting) along with a team-best five digs.

Set 2 (HBU, 22-25): Second set woes reared its head once again as HBU went in front, 11-7. The Horned Frogs came back, going on a 6-1 scoring run to go in front, 17-14, but attack errors let the Huskies crawl back. HBU won the final three points of the set with a kill and ace and finally TCU's 11^th error resulted in the Frogs' first set loss since August 28^th. Manyang was strong on the right side, delivering five kills on 10 swings (.500 hitting), but HBU's block was too difficult to get around and HBU tied up the match.

Set 3 (HBU, 28-26): Myers and Manyang helped TCU bounce back early in the third, establishing a 11-6 lead in the early goings. TCU maintained its distance into the later stages, leading 19-14 and forcing HBU into using its second, and final, timeout. But the Huskies came out of the timeout with a vengeance, going on a 7-0 run to take their first lead since the start of the set, 21-19. Nalls bounced back from a tough second set to record kills on three HBU set points, but back-to-back TCU errors doomed the Frogs as HBU claimed a one-set advantage in the match. Nalls finished the set with six kills on nine swings (.667 hittting) along with five digs. Bramschreiber led the back row with eight digs of her own as TCU regrouped for the fourth.

Set 4 (TCU, 25-16): The Horned Frogs showed their competitive spirit in the fourth, jumping in front, 8-2, and never looking back leading the set by no fewer than five points until the end. Adams found her form again to the tune of four kills on seven swings (.571 hitting). Senior Dani Dennison was steady in the back row, securing six digs as TCU held HBU to 0.25 hitting in the frame.

Set 5 (HBU, 15-13): The hitting errors returned in the final set as TCU couldn't find its balance on the offensive side of the ball and fell behind, 13-8. The Frogs found their rhythm at the end, but the self-inflicted deficit was too much to overcome. Adams, Nichols, Nalls and Manyang each tallied two kills and Bramschreiber collected four digs but six hitting errors were enough to tip the scales in HBU's favor.

UP NEXT:
The Horned Frogs have a quick turnaround as they prepare to play Incarnate Word on Tuesday night (7 p.m.) in Schollmaier Arena. The match will be broadcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+. Tickets are available at gofrogs.com

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