Volleyball: No. 18 TCU falls in five-set road match against No. 23 Baylor

The Horned Frogs move to 14-5 overall after a tough loss to the Bears in Big 12 play.

TCU volleyball hit the road for a battle of ranked opponents in Big 12 Conference action Friday evening, with the No. 23 Baylor Bears outlasting the No. 18 Horned Frogs in a five-set thriller in Waco. In a back-and-forth match that saw TCU take the second and fourth sets, the Horned Frogs fell just short in the fifth and final set, as the Bears emerged to hand TCU a 23-25, 25-22, 20-25, 25-15, 8-15 loss. The Horned Frogs, who fell to 14-5 overall and 6-3 in the Big 12 with the defeat, will look to bounce back with a pair of conference contest this coming week. TCU will host Colorado on Wednesday and Iowa State on Friday.

No. 23 Baylor 3, No. 18 TCU 2

The Bears closed the match on a 9-0 run to take the fifth set and bring home the victory on Friday. Melanie Parra spearheaded the charge for the TCU offense, finishing with 24 kills and two aces while hitting .350 for the match and adding 12 digs for the double-double. Jalyn Gibson notched a double-double as well, totaling 14 kills and 11 digs for the Horned Frogs. Sophomore setter Lily Nicholson was also a double-double earner on Saturday, dishing out 46 assists with a team-leading 15 digs to anchor the TCU defense.

Despite some struggles from outside hitter Becca Kelley, who was limited to five kills with six hitting errors, TCU saw freshman Evan Hendrix step up off the bench with eight kills and five digs. Back-row defenders Alice Volpe and Cecily Bramschreiber combined for 25 digs, while middle blocker Sarah Sylvester led the TCU front line with seven total blocked shots. Receiving errors proved costly for the Horned Frogs, who committed 11 of them along with 12 service errors in the loss to the Bears.