Volleyball: No. 18 TCU back on track after wins over Colorado and Iowa State

The Horned Frogs held off the Cyclones for a five-set victory on Friday evening.

The No. 18 ranked TCU Horned Frogs are back on the winning track after scoring a pair of Big 12 Conference victories this past week. Looking to recover from a five-set loss against No. 23 Baylor, TCU returned home and dominated Colorado on Wednesday, turning in a three-set sweep before outlasting Iowa State for a five-set victory on Friday evening. The wins move the Horned Frogs (16-5, 8-3 Big 12) into sole possession of third place in the conference with seven Big 12 matches remaining in the regular season. TCU will attempt to make it three wins in a row when the Horned Frogs host the UCF Knights this Thursday.

Wednesday: No. 18 TCU 3, Colorado 0

The Horned Frogs finished with a .359 hitting percentage while holding the Buffaloes to a .155 hitting percentage en route to a 25-18, 25-20, 25-15 victory on Wednesday evening. TCU racked up 50 kills on 47 assists while blocking nine shots and notching five aces. Freshman libero Alice Volpe shined on the defensive end, totaling a career-high 20 digs to anchor the back row. Melanie Parra spearheaded the attack for the TCU offense, posting a team-high 16 kills and a .577 hitting percentage while adding 12 digs to earn a double-double.

Sophomore setter Lily Nicholson dished out 32 assists and nine digs for the Horned Frogs, who saw eight different players record at least one assist in the win over Colorado. Jalyn Gibson and Becca Kelley combined for 19 kills to aid the TCU offense, while Sarah Sylvester blocked six shots and was one of six different Horned Frogs to have at least one block. Wednesday marked the season debut for left-handed setter Stephanie Young, who ended the match with three assists, two digs and one kill. Young, who transferred in from Texas A&M Corpus Christi over the offseason, compiled over 1,000 assists over four years at Florida Atlantic from 2019-23. Young figures to be in the mix for TCU going forward.

Friday: No. 18 TCU 3, Iowa State 2

Although the Cyclones largely contained lead attacker Melanie Parra, TCU received a career-best performance from outside hitter Jalyn Gibson, who went for an impressive 26 kills on a .490 hitting percentage while snatching 17 digs on defense. Gibson’s huge double-double was among multiple highlights for the Horned Frogs, who took the first two sets and overcame third and fourth-set losses to hold off Iowa State for a 25-20, 25-20, 22-25, 19-25, 15-11 victory. In addition to Gibson, freshman outside hitter Evan Hendrix gave TCU a much-needed boost, posting career-highs in both kills (13) and digs (12) to earn her first double-double as a Horned Frog.

Freshman libero Alice Volpe finished with double-digit digs for the third straight match, compiling 18 of them to surpass 200 digs for the season. Sophomore setter Lily Nicholson sent out 50 assists with nine digs and reached the 50-assist mark for the sixth time this fall. Nicholson, who’s averaging 10.7 assists per set, is on pace to surpass 1,000 this season. Sarah Sylvester ended the match with five blocks for the Horned Frogs, who overcame 13 service errors and five receiving errors to hold off the Cyclones for the five-set victory.