TCU Volleyball (8-9, 2-5) used strong defense to take down Kansas State (11-7, 2-5) by a score of 3-1 (26-24, 25-17, 23-25, 25-16) on Thursday night inside Schollmaier Arena. Redshirt Sophomore Madilyn Cole stood out with 10 blocks as the Horned Frogs held K-State to the lowest hitting percentage against a Big 12 Conference opponent since 2015.
“I thought our team really did a great job of taking care of their outside hitters tonight,” head coach Jill Kramer said. “We did a great job passing. They put the ball on Ashley Wehrstein a lot and she handled it really well. I thought Taylor [Raiola] had a great night for us. She’s been really consistent in every aspect of her game. She did a great job of utilizing the block. And Smiley [Afedo Manyang] I felt that this was her third or fourth match in a row that she has had a really great performance both blocking and attacking. All in all, I was most impressed with our team in the fourth set. We really started to get on some runs, our communication, block and defense got a lot better. We had some major pursuit balls that we were able to get to and that showed a lot of fight from us. We competed hard and I’m looking forward to coming back tomorrow.”
TCU NOTABLES:
- Cole made 10 blocks in four sets tonight. That is the most blocks by an individual in any Big 12 match this season.
- There have been only five double-digit block performances in four-set matches across the country this season, Cole has two of them: tonight and 12.0 vs. UIW (9/14).
- Madi’s 10 blocks is the most-ever by a Horned Frog against Kansas State in a four-set match and the most by any Horned Frog in a four-set conference match since Oct. 29, 2014 (Mattie Burleson, 12.0 blocks vs. WVU).
- TCU held K-State to .091 hitting – the first time TCU has held a Big 12 opponent under .100 hitting since Sept. 21, 2016 (.095 vs. Texas Tech).
- It was the lowest opponent hitting percentage in a conference match since Nov. 27, 2015 vs. WVU (.049).
- Junior Afedo Manyang posted seven blocks, matching her career high set back in her freshman season (9/17/2019 vs. FAU).
- Manyang made eight kills on a team-best .312 hitting. She has now hit .300 or better in three-straight home matches.
- Senior Dani Dennison tied the TCU program record for consecutive matches played – 127 matches.
- She finished with nine digs, bringing her career total to 1,470, the most in program history.
- Junior McKenzie Nichols recorded her 22nd career double-double and seventh of the season: 42 assists, 10 digs. She is now tied for the 16th most double-doubles in program history over a career.
- Sophomore Taylor Raiola led the team in kills and digs for the first time in her career. She finished with 15 kills and 12 digs, her fifth career double-double and third of the season.
- All three of Raiola’s double-doubles, this year, have come in Big 12 play.
- Senior Ashley Wehrstein set a season-best with nine digs.
- Junior Julia Adams made 12 kills for her team-leading 11th double-digit kill performance.
- Freshman Cecily Bramschreiber made her first career kill on a back row swing in the third set.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Set 1 (TCU, 26-24): The Wildcats blocking game got off to a strong start, generating four of K-State’s first seven points. Four early errors (two attacking and two serving) kept TCU competitive, 7-10, before the offense got rolling. Raiola, Adams, Manyang and Cole each provided kills on a 5-1 TCU run as the Frogs took momentum away from K-State, jumping in front, 12-11. Both sides traded points until TCU made its first block of the set, from Adams and Myers, to go in front, 17-14. From there, the TCU block came to life. Manyang and Cole recorded back-t-back blocks to put TCU in front, 21-18. K-State climbed back with quality offensive play to tie the score, 23-23, but errors came back to bite them as a serve went long to put TCU back in front, 25-24, allowing Adams to finish off the set with a kill. Nichols distributed the ball well throughout the set as five Frogs came up with kills, led by Raiola and Cole with three apiece. Raiola led the defense with seven digs with Cole’s three blocks leading the charge at the net.
Set 2 (TCU, 25-17): TCU was all over the court on defense in the second set, digging or blocking 18 of K-State’s 33 swings and only allowing the Wildcats to collect four points while they were serving. A 4-0 TCU got in front, 17-15 before winning eight of the final 10 points to secure the eight-point set victory while holding K-State to -.030 hitting. Seven different Frogs contributed digs, led by three each from Dennison, Nichols and Wehrstein. Cole and Manyang each added two blocks while Myers led the offense with four kills on seven swings.
Set 3 (K-State, 25-23): The sweep seemed to be on when TCU made an 8-2 scoring run, erasing an 11-14 deficit and taking the lead, 19-16. But Kansas State avoided the ill-timed errors this time around and came back to win the set. Adams led the offense with four kills as Nichols racked up 11 assists and three digs while allowing six different Frogs to register a kill, including the first career kill for Bramschreiber.
Set 4 (TCU, 25-16): TCU’s blocking slammed the door on Kansas State in the fourth set, halting the Wildcats momentum from the previous set and pushing the Frogs to the win. K-State had the momentum early, going in front, 5-2, before Nichols and Myers combined for the first block of the set to get TCU back into it, 5-4. Cole made two more blocks, one with Nichols and one with Manyang, to throw off the K-State attacking strategy and tie the set, 10-10, before a 7-1 Horned Frog run put the set out of reach. Good serving from Dennison and Wehrstein coupled with a pair of kills from Manyang and another block from Nichols and Myers fueled the run as TCU took a commanding, 17-11 lead. From that point on, it was the Raiola show as the sophomore peppered home four kills in the final stages of play to send TCU to a nine-point victory. Raiola finished with seven kills on nine swings (.778 hitting) and Madi Cole posted four of TCU’s six blocks in the final set. The Frogs held KSU to .000 hitting and polished off their second straight home victory in Big 12 play.
Courtesy TCU Volleyball
