TCU Continues Comeback Magic with Five-Set Win over West Virginia

Thursday, September 29

Fort Worth, Texas

6 PM

TCU

7-7,2-1Big 12

West Virginia

6-8,0-2Big 12

West Virginia

TCU

Photo by: Gregg Ellman

TCU Continues Comeback Magic with Five-Set Win over West Virginia

9/29/2022 10:50:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

FORT WORTH – If TCU volleyball hasn't been christened with the "comeback kids" nickname, well, the 2022 squad is in the adoption stages of acquiring the moniker.

The Horned Frogs rallied from a 2-1 hole to defeat West Virginia in five sets (25-19, 22-25, 19-25, 25-21, 17-15) on Thursday inside Schollmaier Arena.

The win pushed TCU's recorded to 7-7 overall. Six of the Horned Frogs' victories have been in come-from-behind fashion. The match vs. the Mountaineers was TCU's third five-setter of the fall, a situation the team is 3-0 in.

The Horned Frogs are now 2-1 in Big 12 play for the first time since 2018.

Audrey Nalls led all players with 25.5 points and 24 kills – five of which came in the decisive fifth frame – to pair with 14 digs. The senior has registered double-doubles in three straight games – all of which have fallen under the Big 12 umbrella – and four of her last five outings.

It felt appropriate that Nalls' proved to be TCU's offensive enforcer in set five. Nalls landed a career-best 25 kills, the last of which was match point, in TCU's first five-set thriller vs. Indiana on Sept. 9. She followed up with a match-leading 18 kill effort eight days later to fuel a reverse sweep of Abilene Christian.

Nalls' first pair of fifth-set kills put TCU in front 4-3. The frame featured nine ties but TCU never trailed the rest of the way. The reigning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week ignited a 4-0 run with a trio of kills to up TCU's edge to 10-7. Julia Adams (12 kills, four digs) capped the run with a kill of her own that forced the Mountaineers to burn their final timeout.

WVU rallied to gridlock the score at 13-13, but Nalls promptly sliced through a pair of middle blockers on the next play to give TCU its first shot at match point. Zoe Hall then twice positioned TCU to win the match. She slammed home a kill from the right pin to make the score 15-14. Following a TCU attack error, the sophomore swung the pendulum in favor of the Horned Frogs one final time at 16-15 via a block solo. Adams went up and over a WVU outside hitter on the ensuing play to lock up the match.

Hall picked a great night to deliver her best career performance in purple and white.

She earned the starting nod at right side hitter for the 14^th time in her last 15 outings. But with TCU struggling at the net – WVU out-blocked the Horned Frogs 9-5 through the first three sets – Hall was forced to play as both an outside hitter and middle blocker.

Her response to the increased workload? A career-high 11 kills on .429 hitting – tops among all players – along with a team-best five blocks. Four of her rejections came in set four.

The Bridgeport, Texas native was arguably her most impactful in the fourth frame. TCU found itself down 14-13 while trailing two sets to one. The Horned Frogs inched ahead 16-14 following consecutive attack errors. Hall took over from there. She landed three straight blocks to cap a 6-0 run and give TCU its largest lead of the set. Hall later kept TCU comfortably in front at 20-16 when she matched her previous career-high in kills (nine). Nalls sewed up the set and pushed the match to a fifth frame with a pair of kills on two of TCU's final three scoring plays.

TCU landed 10 blocks over the final two sets.

The match was played on TCU's terms in the early going. The Horned Frogs closed out set one on a 15-7 run. TCU flushed home 17 kills in the set, finished with a 17-8 advantage in digs and dished out 14 assists to WVU's five.

The Mountaineers opened up a 10-1 lead in set two the Horned Frogs never recovered from. Trailing 19-11, the Horned Frogs cut the deficit down to a point at 22-21 out of a timeout but were unable to finish off the rally.

The Horned Frogs had their opportunity to ensure the match did not need a fifth set. TCU led 15-14 in the third frame, only for WVU to close on an 11-2 run out of the media timeout.

Sabrina Sustala earned her second straight start at libero. She anchored the back row alongside Nalls, as she tallied a team and career-high 20 digs.

Callie Williams assisted on 49 of TCU's 61 kills in the match to register a Horned Frog career-high.

TCU matched its season-high in digs (70) and finished with the cumulative advantage in kills (61-55), assists (57-53) and blocks (15-13).

The Horned Frogs have won four of their last six matches ahead of their stiffest challenge of the year – a trip to Gregory Gym in Austin to face No. 1 Texas at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.