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Volleyball Falls in Four-Set Battle at No. 2 Nebraska - TCU Athletics
LINCOLN, Neb. – Battling against one of the sport's blue bloods in front of 8,695 fans nation inside the Devaney Center, TCU volleyball gave No. 2 Nebraska everything
GoFrogs: Volleyball Falls in Four-Set Battle at No. 2 Nebraska
Box Score
LINCOLN, Neb. – Battling against one of the sport's blue bloods in front of 8,695 fans nation inside the Devaney Center, TCU volleyball gave No. 2 Nebraska everything it had. The Horned Frogs pushed the Huskers to four sets on their home court but ultimately dropped a gritty 1-3 match on Saturday night to round out their weekend at the Ameritas Player Challenge.
Three Frogs (1-1, 0-0 Big 12) finished with double-digit kills, led by Melanie Parra with 14. Jalyn Gibson followed with 11 of her own and redshirt freshman Becca Kelley tallied 10 kills, reaching double digits for the first time in her young career. On the defensive side, Sarah Sylvester gave the Huskers (3-0, 0-0 Big Ten) fits all night at the net. The junior had a season-high nine blocks and helped the Frogs hold Nebraska below a .150 clip in two sets. Freshman defensive specialist Alice Volpe also earned her first career start.
Going toe-to-toe with the defending National Runner-Up, TCU became just the fourth non-conference opponent in the last three years to take a set from Nebraska at home in the regular season, joining Kentucky, Creighton and Stanford.
TCU hung close with Nebraska early on in the opening set. Trailing at 12-15 at the media timeout, the deficit only grew for the Frogs as the Huskers piled onto their lead with a 5-0 run before Kelley could side out. Nebraska went on to close it out and take the first set 25-15.
Looking to even the match, the Frogs used a big block in set two, racking up six rejections. TCU found separation with a 5-0 run and forced an early Nebraska timeout at 13-9. Both teams battled back and forth as the set featured 12 ties and six lead changes. The Frogs had the Huskers on the ropes with a two-point lead at 22-20, but Nebraska found a way to even the score and steal a close second set, 25-23.
Not backing down, TCU dug deep and found a way to take set three from the second-ranked team in the nation. A fast 4-0 run with Parra at the service line set the tone out of the gate, but Nebraska didn't go away easily. Gibson stepped up with five kills in the set alone, and setter Lily Nicholson fed the hitters to a .324 clip. Locked at 22 apiece late, the Frogs capitalized on back-to-back Husker miscues to get to set point. A service error gave the ball back to the Huskers, but it wouldn't stop the Frogs. With all 8,695 fans on their feet, Alexis Roberson slammed down a kill to keep TCU alive and force a fourth set.
Nebraska jumped out to a quick 9-4 lead in the fourth set and never looked back. TCU tried to chip away at the lead and claw its way back into the set, but the Huskers prevented the Frogs from taking things to a decisive fifth set with a 25-13 win to seal the 3-1 victory.
The Frogs are back in action next weekend against a pair of ranked opponents at the Big 10/Big 12 Challenge in Waco, Texas. TCU faces off with No. 3 Wisconsin on Sept. 6 and No. 18 Minnesota on Sept. 7. Both matches are set for 4 p.m. CT and will be available to stream on ESPN+.
For all the latest TCU volleyball news, follow the Frogs on X at @TCUVolleyball, on Instagram at @tcuvolleyball and on Facebook at TCU Volleyball.
