MORGANTOWN, W.Va.  – Morgan Montgomery and Mia Swanegan combined for 27 of the team’s 50 kills as the West Virginia University volleyball team dropped a 3-1 match to TCU in Big 12 action on Wednesday. TCU took the match in set scores of 25-15, 25-22, 19-25 and 25-22.

 

Montgomery led the Mountaineers (5-9, 0-2) with 14 kills, hitting for a .132 clip. Swanegan, who transferred from TCU over the summer, tied her career high with 13 kills as the duo also teamed for six blocks, with Swanegan posting four and Montgomery adding a pair. Bridgett Talia was just shy of double digits with nine kills, while Hannah Shreve added seven and Caleah Wells tallied five. Shreve led the team with a .500 attacking percentage.

 

Shreve also led the blocking, registering seven on the night to finish one shy of her career high. Brittany Sample added three and assisted on 38 of WVU’s 50 kills. Wells also had a pair of blocks, while Gianna Gotterba was a defensive leader with a team-best 16 digs. Melvina Brown collected nine digs while Haley Roe added six. Brown and Sample each notched a pair of service aces.

 

West Virginia out-killed TCU (11-4, 1-2) 50-48, though the Horned Frogs won the blocking battle, 15-11.

 

The Mountaineers had 11 kills to TCU’s nine in the first set, but the Horned Frogs hit .273 in taking the win. TCU jumped out to a 7-1 lead on a trio of blocks before three straight attacking errors on the Frogs cut the WVU deficit to two, down 7-5. A WVU service error made it a 14-10 for the Horned Frogs before a 3-0 TCU run made 19-13. Another 3-0 run capped the set as the Horned Frogs took the 25-15 win on a block.

 

TCU out-hit WVU in the second set, going for a .273 clip in making it a 2-0 lead. The Horned Frogs took an 8-4 lead on a kill before a 5-0 run by the Mountaineers later in the set gave WVU the 19-18 lead as Shreve notched first a kill, then a block. The Frogs notched three in a row for a 21-19, with Montgomery slamming down a kill to end the WVU skid. Swanegan added a kill to knot the score, 21-21, before back-to-back WVU attacking errors gave TCU the 23-21 victory.

 

Hitting .167 with 13 kills, the Mountaineers came back to take the third set behind six kills from Montgomery. West Virginia took a 12-7 lead on a kill by Montgomery, but the Horned Frog rattled off four straight points to cut the deficit to one, down 12-11. Back-to-back kills from Talia, who had four in the set, made it a 19-14 WVU lead, and a service by Brown put the score at 22-16. Swanegan and Montgomery each added another kill as the Mountaineers took the set on a TCU attacking error, 25-19.

 

The Mountaineers battled to extend the match in the fourth set, posting 13 kills, but ultimately fell to the Horned Frogs. The teams traded points early in the set before a TCU kill and a block gave the Frogs a slim 11-8 advantage. West Virginia put down three straight kills to even the set, 11-11, and the two kept things close before a 4-0 Mountaineer run put them ahead, 20-18, on a kill from Swanegan. TCU responded with three in a row of its own, taking a 21-20 lead before back-to-back points put the set in TCU’s hands, 25-22, as the Horned Frogs took the match 25-22.