TCU Blows by Oklahoma in Four Sets to Notch Fourth Straight Home Win

Friday, October 21

Fort Worth, Texas

12:30 PM

TCU

10-9,5-3Big 12

Oklahoma

11-9,1-7Big 12

Oklahoma

TCU

Photo by: Sharon Ellman

TCU Blows by Oklahoma in Four Sets to Notch Fourth Straight Home Win

10/21/2022 5:07:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Horned Frogs are two games over .500 at the midway point of Big 12 play

FORT WORTH – Midterms arrived for TCU volleyball on Friday as Big 12 play reached its halfway point in the 2022 campaign.

And high marks awaited the Horned Frogs following their 3-1 victory over Oklahoma inside Schollmaier Arena.

TCU earned its third win in its last four outings, taking down the Sooners in set scores of 25-23, 25-19, 19-25, 25-17.

The Horned Frogs (10-9, 5-3 Big 12) are on track to secure their second-ever Big 12 winning record. TCU is two games over .500 midway through conference play for the first time since 2015.

TCU also obtained its first 4-0 start to its home conference schedule in more than a decade. The Horned Frogs last won four straight conference home games in 2009 – the year of the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance.

Suffice it to say, the Horned Frogs have been overachievers under first-year head coach Jason Williams.

After being tabbed to finish seventh in the Big 12 Preseason Poll, the Horned Frogs sit a half-game out of second place with five weeks remaining in the regular season.

TCU controlled Friday's matinée match from start to finish.

The Horned Frogs finished with a 57-42 advantage in kills and also held the cumulative edge in assists (56-39) and digs (52-38).

Defensively, TCU stifled the Sooners (11-9, 1-7 Big 12) to a season-worst .153 hitting percentage. TCU held the Sooners to less than 10 kills and under .100 hitting in sets two and four.

Whereas the Oklahoma attack waned throughout the afternoon, TCU ratchetted up its offensive efficiency as the match progressed. The Horned Frogs hit. 303 over the final two frames. TCU also passed at a season-best clip of .463.

Audrey Nalls landed 10 of her match-high 16 kills in sets three and four. The two-time Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week also finished with 12 digs to post her fifth double-double of the fall.

Callie Williams joined Nalls on the double-double wagon to continue her torrid October. Williams paired a match-best 45 assists with 12 digs. She has recorded four consecutive double-doubles and leads the team with six.

Sabrina Sustala donned the libero jersey for the seventh consecutive match and led TCU in digs with 13.

TCU benefitted from a balanced attack in set one. Zoe Hall, Mykayla Myers and Jalyn Gibson accounted for 11 of TCU's 17 kills – the most in a set by either team. Nalls and Julia Adams (9 kills, 4 blocks) chipped in three kills apiece.

Myers punctuated a 4-0 Frogs run midway through the frame to transform a 16-13 deficit into a 17-16 lead TCU never relinquished. The 6-0 senior notched one of her match-leading seven blocks to pull TCU within a point of the Sooners, then split the Oklahoma middles two plays later to put the Horned Frogs on top for good.

Gibson swelled TCU's extended scoring run to 9-3 and increased the lead to 22-19 with her third kill of the frame. Hall's fourth and fifth spikes of the set then positioned TCU for set point at 24-20. Nalls found open court from the back row to cinch the set.

Set two was never in doubt. TCU opened the frame with five straight points. Gibson laced home kills on three of TCU's next four scoring plays to inch TCU further ahead at 9-3.

Gibson was invaluable in helping TCU assume a 2-0 lead. The freshman earned her second straight start at outside hitter. She finished with a career-high nine kills, eight of which came in sets one and two.

TCU further separated at 19-11 – its largest lead of the afternoon – following back-to-back kills by Nalls. Gibson found open court twice more in the frame to keep TCU comfortably ahead 23-16. TCU grabbed the set off a kill from Lyric Stewart and Oklahoma net violation on consecutive plays.

Oklahoma proved to be a tad batter offensively in the third frame. The Sooners hit .394 in the set. TCU took a 15-13 lead into the media timeout. The Sooners responded with a decisive 6-0 run out of the timeout. The Horned Frogs never drew closer than three points the rest of the way.

The teams played to an 8-8 gridlock to open set four.

Nalls then bookended kills around two straight service aces from Adams to cap a 4-0 run and give TCU its first bit of separation at 12-9. Hall's final kill of the match nudged TCU closer to victory, extending the lead to 15-11.

The Sooners proved to have some fight left, though, as they clawed within a point of the Horned Frogs 18-17.

The momentum shift proved to be fleeting. TCU closed out the match on a 7-0 run. Three kills – two from Nalls, one from Adams – a service ace by Williams and a trio of Oklahoma attack errors did the damage.

The Horned Frogs have now win six of their last seven home contests dating back to Sept. 16.

TCU has claimed four of the last five meetings between the Horned Frogs and the Sooners with Friday's result.

TCU begins the back-half of conference play at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, when it welcomes Kansas to Fort Worth. The Jayhawks swept TCU on Oct. 12 in Lawrence in the teams' first meeting this fall. TCU can earn its first win over a team featured in the top-25 of the NCAA RPI with a win over the Jayhawks.