Top-Ranked Texas too much for TCU in Midweek Road Match

Wednesday, October 5

Austin, Texas

7 PM

TCU

7-8,2-2Big 12

Texas

12-0,4-0Big 12

TCU

Texas

Top-Ranked Texas too much for TCU in Midweek Road Match

10/5/2022 10:57:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Audrey Nalls led all players in kills for the fourth straight outing

AUSTIN – A trip to Gregory Gym to face top-ranked Texas lived up to its billing as the stiffest challenge of the 2022 season for TCU volleyball.

The Horned Frogs were downed in straight sets by the Longhorns, 25-20, 25-15, 25-17, on Wednesday in a Big 12 affair.

Texas closed the match with a 29-15 advantage in kills in sets two and three to gradually separatee from the Horned Frogs.

The Longhorns (12-0, 4-0 Big 12) hit .324 and enjoyed the edge in digs (44-33) and assists (42-31).

Audrey Nalls and Julia Adams accounted for 26 of TCU's 33 kills.

Nalls finished with match-highs in 17 points and 16 kills. She has led all players in kills in each of the Horned Frogs (7-8, 2-2 Big 12) four Big 12 matches. Six of Nalls' kills came in set one – a frame in which she hit .820.

Adams' 10^th-and-final kill of the match marked her 50^th career double-digit kill performance in her four-year TCU career. The 6-3 senior is now just 38 kills shy of becoming the 12^th player in program history to reach 1,000 career kills.

Nalls and Sabrina Sustala, who earned her third straight start at libero, each had eight digs.

Despite the tall task, TCU appeared unfazed by a capacity crowd of 4,369 spectators come first serve. The Horned Frogs jumped out to a 7-3 lead on the strength of a .800 hitting clip. Two blocks by Audrey Nalls in the match's first three plays gave TCU a 3-0 head start. A couple of kills from the left pin by Julia Adams soon increased the lead to four points.

The Longhorns responded with a 7-0 run behind four kills from Madison Skinner (15 kills, .480 pct) butt TCU never lost touch in the set. The Horned Frogs soon trimmed the lead down to one pint at 13-12. A touch kill from Nalls, followed by a block by Cole, ignited a 5-2 spurt that made the score 13-12. Sustala dug out a missile from Big 12 kills per set leader Logan Eggleston two plays later to set Nalls up with a kill from the back row outside hitter slot. Cole's fourth block of the frame later kept TCU within two points at 21-19. Three of the Longhorns' final four plays in the set came via TCU errors.

TCU rallied from a six-point hole early in set two via four straight points to cut the Longhorns' lead down to 14-12. The Horned Frogs continued to stay within striking distance at 16-13 following a Texas timeout. The Longhorns then closed out the set and grabbed a 2-0 match lead via a 9-2 run.

The Horned Frogs struggled to regain their early-match initiative in the third-and-final frame. Texas doubled up TCU 10-5 and soon extended its edge to 17-8. TCU, to its credit, saw the match through, as the Horned Frogs used a 5-1 run to claw within six points at 23-17.

TCU now returns home to face Texas Tech at 6 p.m. on Saturday in Schollmaier Arena. A win over the Red Raiders would stake the Horned Frogs to their first 3-2 start to conference play since 2016.