The pin hitters led the way on Wednesday night as the TCU volleyball team put together a 3-1 (25-14, 22-25, 25-13, 25-14) victory over Texas Tech to open Big 12 Conference play in front of a sold out crowd at The Rickel inside the University Recreation Center.
The Horned Frogs (8-3, 1-0 Big 12) dominated the opening set against the Red Raiders (10-6, 0-1 Big 12) by hitting .472 with 19 kills, but had one too many errors in the second set as Texas Tech sneaked away with the win to even up the match. TCU rebounded by siding out over 70 percent of the time in the final two sets to finish out the win in four sets. TCU finished with 59 kills in the match to go along with 77 digs and nine total blocks, while holding the Red Raiders to only 37 kills and a .095 hitting percentage.
Jillian Bergeson and Sarita Mikals led the team offensively and defensively, as the duo each recorded a double-double. Bergeson finished with 12 kills to go along with a season- and career-high 24 digs. Mikals scored her double-double with 16 kills and 16 digs against Texas Tech.
Stat of the Match
2 – The win over Texas Tech to open Big 12 action marked only the second time in program history that TCU has won its conference opener since joining the league in 2012. The last time came in that inaugural season in the league when the Frogs came back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat West Virginia on the road, 3-2.
Quotes of the Match
TCU Director of Volleyball Jill Kramer
Opening Statement
“Well it is always exciting to get a win in the Big 12. We have a tough league and I think every team is improved from last year. I really like the way our team came in. We played great defense tonight and our pins had really good numbers. We had a little dip in the second set where we made quite a few errors and didn’t side out very well, but it was nice to see them bounce back.”
On the adjustments made tonight
“I do think that on both sides of the ball, offense and defense, we made adjustments in the match tonight and I thought that was really great of our team. We did some things a little differently at the service line and we needed to adjust on defense because we had not seen them run that offense at all. They ran a 6-2 offense and we hadn’t seen them do that and they had a lot of different pins in. It was really great for our team to have the opportunity to adjust not only offensively but defensively. I love it when we are not having that much success at one position scoring, that we can change our game plan a little bit and get that somewhere else. That is what a great team does and it was nice to see that.”
Notes
-TCU improves to 8-3 overall this season, 6-1 in home matches and 1-0 against conference opponents in 2016
-The match tonight was the 14th meeting all-time with TCU improving to 8-6 in the series record
-The win marked win No. 93 in Jill Kramer’s career
-Sarita Mikals led the team in kills for the fifth time this season and scored double-digit kills for the fourth time
-The 16 kills also ties a season-high for Mikals
-Bergeson recorded double-digit kills for the fourth time this season and the 12 kills also tied a season-high
-The 24 kills by Bergeson was a career-high for the senior and it marked the fourth time recording double-digit digs this season
-The double-double was the 23rd in Bergeson’s career and the 27th in Mikals’ career
-Lamprini Konstantinidou led the team in assists for the fifth time this season with 27 in the win
-Kayla Scheevel recorded double-digit digs for the fourth time this season with 14 in the match
-Regan McGuire paced the defense at the net with five total blocks to lead the team for the sixth time this season
-TCU out-blocked its opponent for the 10th time this season out of 11 matches
Up Next
TCU will continue the opening week of Big 12 action by traveling to Ames, Iowa to face Iowa State on Sunday, Sept. 25 at 4 p.m., inside the Hilton Coliseum. The match will air live on ESPNU with Trey Bender and Laura Bush on the call.
Courtesy of TCU Athletics.
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