TopFrog
Lifelong Frog
No. 20 TCU Sweeps Hawaii in NCAA First Round - TCU Athletics
EUGENE, Ore. – No. 20 TCU volleyball swept Hawaii in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night inside Matthew Knight Arena behind a school-record
GoFrogs: No. 20 TCU Sweeps Hawaii in NCAA First Round
EUGENE, Ore. – No. 20 TCU volleyball swept Hawaii in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night inside Matthew Knight Arena behind a school-record 24-kill performance from Big 12 Player of the Year Melanie Parra.
It marks the third straight season the Horned Frogs (22-7, 13-5 Big 12) have advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament, all under head coach Jason Williams, and the fifth time in program history.
Parra fueled the Frogs' offense, breaking her own three-set program record for kills set earlier this season. The Sinaloa, Mexico, native out-dueled Hawaii's Caylen Alexander, who leads the nation in kills and points per set. Parra finished with 24 kills on 63 swings for a .302 clip while adding seven digs, four blocks and an ace. It moved her season kill total to 555, the most by any TCU player since 1996 (Jill Pape, 626), and marked her 1,217th point in a Horned Frog uniform, joining the top 10 in school history.
Jalyn Gibson and Becca Kelley finished just shy of double digits with nine and eight kills, respectively. Coming off the bench, Kelley made the most of her opportunity and hit an efficient .467 rate. Setters Lily Nicholson and Stephanie Young combined for 37 assists while feeding the offense to a .297 clip.
Defensively, TCU tallied 10 blocks as a team, led by Sarah Sylvester, Alexis Roberson, Gibson and Parra, all with four total. For Sylvester, she moved past Jennifer Sebastian (326, 1999-01) for the seventh most in the record book. Libero Alice Volpe paced the Frogs with 14 digs to help hold Hawaii to a .171 clip.
The Rainbow Wahine took an early 7-5 lead in the opening set with a small 3-0 run before a kill from Parra helped TCU side out. It sparked a 6-0 run to put the Frogs back in front 11-7, featuring two big blocks by Sylvester. TCU held onto the four-point lead into the media timeout after back-to-back kills from Parra. There was no turning back as another 3-0 run capped off by a kill from Roberson increased the lead to six, and another late 3-0 run pushed the score to 22-15. Sylvester and Parra closed out a dominant first set, combining for the block up the middle to hand the Frogs a 25-17 victory.
TCU picked up where it left off as Gibson recorded back-to-back aces to start the second. A two-point lead quickly grew to five as Parra and Sylvester embarked on a 4-0 run and forced Hawaii to call an early timeout down 12-7. The Rainbow Wahine responded out of the break, tying the score back at 15 all. They kept things close until a Kelley kill turned into seven unanswered points to close out the set 25-18.
Leading two sets to none, the Frogs kept their foot on the gas. TCU opened up a 7-4 lead to begin the set, but Hawaii clawed back to take the lead with five straight points at 9-7. Regrouping with a timeout, Roberson led the charge as TCU returned the favor with a 5-0 run of its own. Both teams comminuted to trade runs until they were knotted up at 20. Looking to cap off the sweep, Parra picked up her 23rd and 24th kills of the match, and Gibson aced the 'Bows to send the Frogs into the second round.
Playing with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line, No. 20 TCU takes on the hosts No. 14 Oregon on Friday, Dec. 6 at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN+.
For all the latest TCU volleyball news, follow the Frogs on Twitter at @TCUVolleyball, on Instagram at @tcuvolleyball and on Facebook at TCU Volleyball.
