Volleyball: No. 23 TCU beats Denver and Rice at Horned Frog Invitational

Lily Nicholson surpasses 1,000 career assists as the Horned Frogs move to 8-2 on the season.

The No. 23 ranked TCU volleyball team rolled through the Horned Frog Invitational over the weekend, scoring a sweep against Denver before beating Rice in four sets to extend its win streak to seven matches in a row. TCU (8-2, 0-0 Big 12) will begin conference play with a home match against Arizona State on Wednesday before hosting Arizona on Friday.

Friday: TCU 3, Denver 0

Jalyn Gibson and Becca Kelley led the attack against the Pioneers, with each player collecting 11 kills as the Horned Frogs cruised for a 25-17, 25-20, 25-16 victory. TCU posted a .359 hitting percentage and blocked 23 shots, holding Denver to a .113 hitting percentage. Sarah Sylvester had six blocks to lead the TCU defense up front, while Alexis Roberson and Becca Kelley each added five blocks. Although the Horned Frogs struggled with serve receives, committing five errors, TCU’s offense was too powerful for the Pioneers to handle. Melanie Parra earned eight kills and Lily Nicholson dished out 37 assists for the Horned Frogs, who saw their middle hitters Roberson and Sylvester combine for 11 kills. Roberson was particularly effective, notching six kills on eight attempts for a .750 hitting percentage.

Saturday: TCU 3, Rice 1

Melanie Parra collected 24 kills for the Horned Frogs, who overcame an opening-set loss to win three consecutive sets and beat the Owls 20-25, 25-16, 25-22, 25-19. Jalyn Gibson and Lily Nicholson each posted double-doubles, with Gibson totaling 12 kills and 10 digs while Nicholson finished with 50 assists and 10 digs. TCU’s back-row defense was on point, as the Horned Frogs concluded the match with 70 digs and only one receive error. Freshman defender Alice Volpe accounted for 10 digs and libero Cecily Bramschreiber turned in one of her strongest outings of the season, collecting 22 digs to anchor the back-row defense. Sarah Sylvester and Alexis Roberson remained active on the block, combining for 12 of them while Parra added five more. Becca Kelley contributed 13 kills to aid the offense.

During TCU’s win over the Owls, Lily Nicholson surpassed 1,000 career assists despite being only a sophomore. Nicholson emerged during her freshman season last fall, stepping into the starting setter role after former Missouri transfer Riley Buckley was forced to medically retire from volleyball. Nicholson finished with 620 assists last season and already has 418 this season. The sophomore is averaging 41.8 assists per match and 11 assists per set.