NIVC First Round
- Denton, Texas
- Nov. 30, 2017
TCU swept Wyoming behind big nights by redshirt freshman outside hitter Abigail Buckingham and junior middle blocker Anna Walsh, while North Texas blocked its way past Oral Roberts in four sets.
The teams will meet at 8 p.m. ET Friday in second round action.
MATCH STATS
- TCU def. Wyoming 3-0 (28-26, 25-21, 26-24)
- TCU moves to 13-16; Wyoming ends the season at 17-14
- Box Score
- Wyoming Recap / TCU Recap
Key Stats: The Horned Frogs bested the Cowgirls in hitting percentage (.202 to .177), kills (49-33) and blocks (9-8), but Wyoming edged TCU 5-2 in aces.
Stat Leaders: Redshirt freshman outside hitter Abigail Buckingham and junior middle blocker Anna Walsh combined for 31 of TCU’s 49 kills in the victory, posting 19 and 12 respectively. Buckingham hit at a team-high .471 clip and added three blocks, while Walsh put up a team-leading five blocks alongside senior setter Lamprini Konstantinidou. Freshman libero Dani Dennison managed a team-best 10 digs, while junior outside Lexi MacLean added nine.
Redshirt freshman middle Jackie McBride led Wyoming with 12 kills on a match-high .579 hitting effort to go with four blocks. Junior outside Emily Lewis was next on the team with eight putaways on a .412 hitting effort. Junior middle Reed Copeland put up four blocks, while senior libero Lily Austin notched 16 digs and a team-leading three aces.
It Was Over When: After a dominating first set by TCU and an error riddled second set for both teams, Set 3 was an up and down affair, beginning with an 11-3 advantage for Wyoming. Six errors and a pair of Copeland kills helped the Cowgirls to the advantage. TCU rallied to within two at 14-12 as four players turned in kills, including three by MacLean. Later, the Horned Frogs cut the margin to one six times, before knotting the score at 23 on a block by Konstantinidou and Sarah Langs. A McBride kill gave Wyoming a set-point try at 24-23, but TCU scored three straight to end it. The final point came on a stuff by Langs and Buckingham.
Buckingham & Langs combine for team block No. 9 to finish off the sweep as #TCUVB is headed into the Round of 16 of the @WomensNIVC!#GoFrogs pic.twitter.com/KLcZk6Q4hL
— TCU Volleyball (@TCUvolleyball) November 30, 2017
MATCH STATS
North Texas def. Oral Roberts 3-1 (25-17, 25-21, 23-25, 25-16)
North Texas moves to 29-3; Oral Roberts ends the season at 15-14
North Texas Recap / Oral Roberts Recap
Key Stats: The Mean Green won every statistical category in the four set victory, topping the Golden Eagles in hitting percentage (.279 to .137), kills (55-44), aces (5-3) and blocks (10-5).
Stat Leaders: Senior middle blocker Holly Milam and freshman outside Valerie Valerian notched 16 kills apiece to lead the North Texas charge. Milam hit at a .300 clip, while adding six digs and a team-best five blocks. Valerian finished off a double-double with 10 digs and two blocks. Freshman libero Henrianna Ibarra chalked up 13 digs, while Valerian and junior setter Karley York added 10 saves apiece. York served up three of the team’s five aces.
Senior middle Shelby Cox put down 14 kills to pace Oral Roberts, while senior outside Laura Milos just missed a double-double with nine kills, nine digs and a team-best four blocks. Sophomore outside Katarina Mikulic pulled up 14 digs, followed by Milos (9) and junior libero Tori Roe (9).
It Was Over When: After edging North Texas 25-23 in Set 3, the Golden Eagles jumped out to a 5-1 lead in Set 4, with help from three Mean Green miscues. Later down 6-3, North Texas turned things around with a 14-2 run. Five ORU miscues, three blocks and two Valerian putaways gave the Mean Gren a 17-8 advantage they would not relinquish. kills by Alexis Wright and Barbara Teakell clinched the victory at 25-16.
The Mean Green take set 4 and defeat ORU in the first round of the @WomensNIVC! North Texas takes on TCU tomorrow at 7pm in the Mean Green Volleyball Gym! #GMG #MakeItCount pic.twitter.com/3Ip8lMlMmG
— MeanGreen Volleyball (@MeanGreenVB) December 1, 2017
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