TCU Blitzes Texas Tech in Four Sets Before Second-Largest Crowd in Program History

Saturday, October 8

Fort Worth, Texas

6 PM

TCU

8-8,3-2Big 12

Texas Tech

13-4,2-2Big 12

Texas Tech

TCU

Photo by: Ellman Photography

TCU Blitzes Texas Tech in Four Sets Before Second-Largest Crowd in Program History

10/8/2022 10:46:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

The Horned Frogs are 3-2 in Big 12 play for the first time since 2016

FORT WORTH – The second Saturday in October proved to be as good of a day as any for the Horned Frogs to play their best match of the fall.

Playing in front of 3,129 fans – the second-largest crowd TCU volleyball has ever drawn – the Horned Frogs secured their signature victory to this point in the 2022 campaign.

A four-set triumph over Texas Tech, 26-24, 26-24, 22-25, 29-27.

With the win, TCU (8-8) is 3-2 in Big 12 play for the first time since 2016.

The Horned Frogs lit up the Red Raiders (13-4, 2-2 Big 12) to the tune of 69 kills – 68 of which were assisted on – against a .311 hitting percentage. All three figures were season-highs. Collectively, TCU passed at a .456 clip – also a season-best.

Audrey Nalls, Julia Adams and Callie Williams were the architects of the offensive onslaught.

Nalls landed a career-high 26 kills, nine of which came in the decisive fourth set, on .300 hitting. The 6-1 senior is now averaging 20.5 kills per match in Big 12 play. She has eclipsed 20 kills in three of TCU's five conference contests and led all players in kills each time.

Adams was every bit as good. She notched a season-best 20 kills while hitting .326. Adams is now just 18 kills shy of becoming the 12^th player in program history to reach 1,000 career kills.

Williams dished out 61 assists – her most in a match in her five-year collegiate career – to pair with 10 digs, three blocks and three kills.

Texas Tech, which was ranked No. 35 in the NCAA RPI, entered as winners of eight of the last 10 in the all-time series. But TCU quickly asserted things would be different this time around.

TCU landed 17 kills in the first frame, 15 of which were assisted on by Williams. Defensively, the Horned Frogs constrained Texas Tech into a paltry .108 hitting percentage.

Nalls racked up six kills through the contest's first 18 plays to put TCU in front 10-8 and temper enthusiasm from the black and red-clad section of Schollmaier Arena. The lead soon swelled to 21-14 via an 8-3 run that was punctuated by two blocks and a kill from Mykayla Myers. The Red Raiders rallied to knot the scoreboard at 24-all, but Nalls returned fire with her ninth kill of the frame to position TCU for set point. Madi Cole then split two Red Raider middle blockers on the following play to sew up the 1-0 head start.

The Horned Frogs comeback mettle is well-documented seven weeks into the season. To review, six of TCU's eight wins have been in come-from-behind fashion. And the moxie was on display once more in set two.

Texas Tech methodically worked its way to a 19-16 lead. But TCU closed hard from there, using a 10-4 run and staving off set point to steal the set and take a commanding 2-0 match lead.

Consecutive kills from Williams and Myers ignited the rally. TCU stayed within a point of the Red Raiders at 22-21 following another kill by Adams. The Horned Frogs then staved off a trio of attacks by Texas Tech on a pinball volley on the following play to set up Nalls from the left pin. Adams delivered a tiebreaking spike on the following play to inch TCU ahead 23-22. Texas Tech responded with two straight points to take aim at set point. TCU again had an answer, though. Adams and Zoe Hall (9 kills, 5 blocks) notched back-to-back kills to flip the score in favor of the Horned Frogs. A block solo from Myers then capped the comeback.

The set-clinching rejection was a part of a nine-kill, nine-block effort for Myers. The senior has registered nine blocks on three occasions this season.

Texas Tech proved to be a hair better down the stretch in an offensive showcase of set three. The Red Raiders hit .455 while TCU connected at a .333 clip. TCU landed 15 kills to Texas Tech's 13 but committed 11 combined attack and service errors compared to the Red Raiders' six.

The teams played to a 15-15 tie entering the media timeout. The Red Raiders scored three straight points out of the break. TCU clawed within a point of Texas Tech at 23-22 but was unable to draw even.

The fourth set embodied the resolve TCU has forged through a grueling schedule featuring three AVCA top-five opponents and five foes featured in the top-40 of the NCAA RPI.

The frame featured 12 ties. TCU did not lead until 22-21. The Horned Frogs served for match point five times.

Before that point, the Horned Frogs found themselves faced with a 17-13 hole and prospect of playing a fifth set following a 4-0 Texas Tech run.

Nalls, in short order, had an answer. A trio of kills by the Waxahachie native pulled TCU back within a point at 20-19.

Head coach Jason Williams then initiated a savvy substitution. He called upon freshman Gabi Maas to serve. She promptly aced Texas Tech into timeout with the score now even.

It was Adams' show from there. She delivered three straight kills to give TCU a trio of one-point leads, the last of which gave the Horned Frogs their first shot at match point at 24-23.

Texas Tech, to its credit, forced TCU to earn the win in full. The teams alternated points to a 27-27 deadlock. Myers ninth-and-final kill of the evening again put TCU within a point of victory at 25-24. Nalls and Hall then bookended kills around a pair of Texas Tech points to keep the initiative on TCU's side at 26-25 and 27-26, respectively.

A veteran and a newcomer closed the show. Williams delivered a dump kill to stake TCU to a match point serve one final time. Freshman Sarah Sylvester, on track to post the best defensive season in school history by a freshman middle blocker, then stuffed Texas Tech at the net to set off the ensuing celebration.

TCU landed 20 kills in set four, its most in a set this season.

The Horned Frogs now pivot to a two-game swing through the great plains. TCU draws Kansas at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday in Lawrence before making the 40-mile bus ride to Manhattan for a Saturday showdown vs. Kansas State.