WVU Drops Five-Setter to TCU

Wednesday, November 23

Fort Worth, Texas

8:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

12-17, 3-12

TCU

14-12, 7-9

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
West Virginia	15	28	21	25	9	2
TCU	25	26	25	18	15	3

VBHuddle-Main-112316.jpg

November 23, 2016 10:59 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

West Virginia Mountaineers

12-17, 3-12

Final

TCU Horned Frogs

14-12, 7-9

FORT WORTH, Texas – Three players finished in double-digit kills but it wasn't enough to power the West Virginia University volleyball team past TCU as the Mountaineers fell to the Horned Frogs, 3-2, on Wednesday evening at University Rec Center in Fort Worth. WVU (12-17, 3-12) dropped the match to the Frogs (14-12, 7-9) in set scores of 15-25, 28-26, 21-25, 25-18 and 9-15.

It marked the tenth time this season and the sixth time in Big 12 play that WVU has played a deciding set. The Mountaineers defeated the Frogs, 3-2, in Morgantown on Sept. 28.

Payton Caffrey and Natania Levak each registered 15 kills to the lead the Mountaineers. Caffrey just missed a double-double with nine digs, while Levak hit .312 in the match. Morgan Montgomery had 14 kills, hitting .222 with six digs.

Levak also led the blocking effort with eight total blocks. Mia Swanegan chipped in five to go along with eight kills, while Hannah Shreve finished with five blocks. West Virginia totaled 11.5 team blocks in the match.

Erin Slinde assisted on 45 of WVU's 60 kills, also adding a pair of blocks and seven digs. Gianna Gotterba led the floor defense with 17 digs as Taylor Cross and Gabrielle Cuckovich each added five.

Caffrey, Montgomery, Gotterba and Cuckovich each registered a service ace for the Mountaineers.

Hitting .214 behind four kills each from Montgomery and Levak, the Mountaineers couldn't settle into an offensive rhythm in the first set. The Frogs took a 10-6 lead early, forcing WVU into a timeout. Levak came up with a trio of kills following the stoppage, but the Mountaineers still found themselves with a four-point deficit at 14-10. The Frogs kept the momentum, increasing their lead to 10 points as they took a 25-15 win to lead the match 1-0.

The Mountaineers posted 3.5 team blocks in taking the second set to tie the match 1-1. An early 4-0 run gave the Frogs a 7-4 lead, but the Mountaineers used a timeout to regroup and returned to take three straight and come within one. Another 3-0 run by WVU tied the set 10-10 on a Montgomery kill. The Mountaineers and the Frogs traded points before a TCU service error and a block from Swanegan and Caffrey had WVU serving set-point with a 24-23 lead. However, the Frogs extended the set and the two teams battled back and forth. A kill by Caffrey started a 3-0 run as Slinde scored a kill and a bad set by TCU handed the 28-26 win to the Mountaineers.

WVU overcame a 5-0 deficit to tie the third set, but could not hang on for the win. After taking the first five points of the set, the Frogs jumped to a 7-1 lead. A pair of Caffrey kills helped a 5-0 Mountaineer run to bring WVU within three, down 12-9, on a Slinde/Swanegan block. The Mountaineers chipped away at the deficit before Swanegan put down a kill to tie the score at 18-18. The Frogs took three straight to regain the lead and kept the momentum to claim the 25-21 win and the 2-0 advantage in the match.

Using six kills and a pair of blocks from Levak, the Mountaineers took the fourth set to come back and tie the match 2-2. WVU scored the first three points of the set and never looked back. Levak found the court, then paired with Shreve on back-to-back blocks to push WVU's advantage to six at 11-5. A TCU service error started a 4-0 run for the Mountaineers, who took a 20-9 lead. Levak again added a pair of kills to put West Virginia at set-point with a 24-14 lead. The Frogs rolled to five straight to come within six, but a kill from Shreve gave WVU the 25-18 triumph.

TCU used a pair of 3-0 run for a 4-2 lead before scoring four straight to make it 8-3 in the fifth set. Kills from Montgomery and Shreve, along with a block by Levak, helped WVU come within two, down 9-7. Levak and Swanegan each put down a kill, but the Horned Frogs scored back-to-back points to take the set on a kill, 15-9, and win the match 3-2.

Ashleigh Martin led the Frogs with 13 kills and four blocks. TCU hit .255 with 60 kills and 15.5 team blocks.

West Virginia travels to Austin, Texas, on Saturday to close out the season in a 1 p.m. tilt with No. 5 Texas at Gregory Gym.