MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University volleyball team heads to Forth Worth on Thursday for an 8 p.m. ET league tilt with TCU at the University Rec Center.
 
Live stats will be available for the match through GameTracker. The match also will be streamed on FrogVision on GoFrogs.com.
 
"We are starting the second half of the Big 12 season, and we have to learn from what we did in the first half of the year," said WVU coach Reed Sunahara. "There's definitely some positives that we can take away from it and then there are some things that we need to work on. We have to build on the positives and keep working on the things that we have to get better at. A lot of it is ball control and then a lot of it is defense. Our hitting needs to get better from an offensive stand point as well.
 
"I want them to be competitive. If they compete hard, that's all you can ask for. We have a couple practices before we go to TCU and Texas, so hopefully, we will be ready."
 
Thursday's contest will be the 13th all-time meeting between the Mountaineers (14-7, 3-5) and the Horned Frogs (9-11, 1-7) in a series that dates back to 2009 when the Horned Frogs claimed a 3-0 win in a neutral-site, nonconference match. WVU and TCU have met on 11 prior occasions as league foes, with the Frogs leading the Big 12 series 7-4.
 
The Horned Frogs came to Morgantown in late September, with the Mountaineers collecting a 3-1 win to open league play this season. Three WVU players finished with 10 or more kills, as sophomore right side hitter Natania Levak led the team with 17. The squad finished the match with 56 kills on 127 total swings to record a .315 hitting percentage.
 
Of note, the two teams split the series in 2016 and 2014. The Mountaineers claimed a 3-2 win inside the WVU Coliseum on Sept. 28, 2016. However, the Frogs won a 3-2 match in Fort Worth on Nov. 23. WVU has never swept TCU in the home-and-away series.
 
Thursday also marks the Mountaineers 20th match in the Lone Star state as a member of the Big 12 and the second time this season they've made the trip. WVU is 5-15 since 2012.
 
"It's always tough playing on the road," Sunahara said. "TCU is always good on the road, and Texas is Texas. We just have to make sure we take care of business. We are just trying to get better every day."
 
Last week, the Mountaineers claimed their third Big 12 Conference win of the season, going 1-1 in Big 12 action. WVU suffered a 3-1 loss at No. 22 Iowa State on Oct. 18 at the Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa. West Virginia then returned home on Saturday, besting Kansas State in five sets inside the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown. West Virginia finished the week hitting .128 with 110 kills and nine team blocks. Sophomore outside hitter Payton Caffrey hit .253 on the week and had a team-high 28 kills. Senior setter Emma Anderson had 53 assists, splitting time with sophomore Erin Slinde, who dished out 35. In addition, senior libero Gianna Gotterba had a team-high 27 digs on the week, followed by Caffrey with 19.
 
Of note, WVU currently sits in fifth place in the Big 12 standings. Caffrey continues to lead the Big 12 with 0.43 service aces per set and ranks inside the top 10 in points (seventh) and kills (eighth). Additionally, Slinde sits inside the top five in service aces (fourth) and assists (fifth). The sophomore setter averages 0.27 service aces and 9.92 assists per set. Freshman defensive specialist Lindsay Proctor also ranks eighth in service aces, averaging 0.23 per set. Swanegan ranks sixth in the league with 1.12 blocks per set, and freshman defensive specialist Alexa Hasting ranks ninth with 3.32 digs per set.
 
Looking ahead, West Virginia will take on No. 3 Texas on Saturday, Oct. 28, in Austin, Texas, in an 8 p.m. ET league tilt. The Mountaineers and the Longhorns meet for the 12th time since 2012 in a series that started when West Virginia joined the Big 12 that season. UT owns an 11-0 lead in the series, though WVU took the Longhorns to five sets in the most recent meeting between the programs, which took place on Sept. 23.
 
"They'll be ready," Sunahara said. "They are playing a lot better than when they played us here at home. Texas is a great team. They have all the pieces and the experience. I want to go in there and compete as hard as we can, and hopefully, we will walk away with great results."
 
For more information on the Mountaineers, visit WVUsports.com and follow WVUVolleyball on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.