by Fort Worth, TX – The Fight in the Fort volleyball tournament continues to be a family weekend staple on the campus of TCU and this year it was all TCU as they take both games on their slate; sweeping the Yale Bulldogs and beating the Rice Owls in 4 sets 3 to 1.
Match one – Yale Bulldogs (6-0)
The first match of the day was a hard-fought battle by the Bulldogs, but they weren’t able to stifle the arial attack of the Frogs. In the match Evan Hendrix and Becca Kelley each had twelve kills leading the Frogs attack while holding the Yale team to a mere .148 hitting percentage over the course of the match.
In the first set it seemed to be all Yale early jumping out to an early advantage putting themselves up 8-5 heading into the first timeout. After that break though something clicked for the Frogs has they powered past the Bulldogs quickly taking the set down the stretch and closing out the frame 25-20.
The Frogs took the momentum into the second and rocketed to an 11-5 lead which was all it wrote for set two. Lauren Murphy was the star of the set accumulating four of the final five points including an ace to give the Frogs the win 25-18.
The Bulldogs refused to back down in the third as the two sides were tied twelve times while exchanging the lead six times, but just like the rest of the Match the Frogs went on another late run turning a 22-22 tie into a 25-22 win after a kill by Jalyn Gibson and two back-to-back blocks by Murphy and Kinsley Young.
Match two – Rice Owls (6-4)
After a couple of hours of rest, it was back to it for the Frogs taking on a familiar foe in the Rice Owls. Once again Hendrix was the star securing her second double-double of the day on 22 kills and 10 digs. She wasn’t the only star though as TCU had four other players in the double digits.
Rice jumped ahead early going on a 7-0 run in the first, capped off by a Sydnee Peterson kill to take a 10-6 lead. The two sides went fought on in the first with both sides having a handful of powerful kills, but just as many errors. The set culminated with a Hendrix double kill taking the final two points and the set 25-22.
The Owls took set two on a couple of runs of their own the first being a 5-2 run led by Stephanie Gutierrez. The next was after the match was tied at 14 giving the Owls a 17-14 lead forcing the Frogs into a timeout. It was from then on that the Owls held on to the rest of the match hitting a .353 clip in the set led by Peterson with four kills.
The Frogs were shot out of a cannon in the third set hitting a whopping .472 with 19 kills led by the trio of Young, Hendrix and Kelley clicking on all levels. The fourth was a tale of two sides Rice jumped the gun and blew past TCU to a 10-3 advantage, but the Frogs took the challenge in stride chipping away at the deficit until it was all even at 17. From there it was all TCU taking a 17-17 game and turning it into a 24-17 game in an instant thanks to an 8-0 run. The Owls hung around fighting off 4 match points, but Young sealed the deal with her 15th kill.
What’s Next
TCU will head to Cincinnati (7-3) to open the Big 12 conference slate on Friday, Sept 25.
Yale will head east to Dallas to take on SMU (7-2) Saturday afternoon before returning to the Northeast to open Ivy League play at Brown (1-5).
Rice will head to College Station on Tuesday, Sept 22 to take on Texas A&M (5-5).
