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Frogs fall short in clash with No. 9 Utah
Nov. 3, 2006
FORT WORTH, Texas - In front of a school-record 855 fans, the TCU Horned Frogs lost a hard-fought battle to the No. 9 Utah Utes, 3-1 (28-30, 27-30, 30-18, 21-30). Despite topping the Utes in every statistical category, the Frogs could not overcome 15 service errors in the match. Lauren Otto led four players in double-digit kills with 17. Anna Vaughn notched 15 kills, followed by LeMeita Smith's 13 and Emily Allen's 11. Calli Corley racked up a game-high 22 digs in the match to move into seventh all-time on the career digs list. The Frogs outkilled the Utes 68-58 and outdug them, 58-49. They held the league's top blocking team to eight total blocks while registering 12 of their own. A tight battle in game one that could have gone either way went the way of the Utes. The Frogs led for a majority of the set until Utah gained the advantage late. TCU stormed out to a 9-4 lead behind the serving of Nirelle Hampton and three straight kills by Otto. Utah closed the gap to one with a strong serving effort by Sydney Anderson and a back-and-forth affair ensued. The Frogs held their ground and maintained their lead, until the Utes battled back to finally knot the game at 19. TCU went on a run of their own to regain the advantage. Otto served up three aces in a five-point span to make it a 22-20 lead. Utah rallied and closed out the game on a 10-6 run to steal the 30-28 game one victory. Game two featured another strong effort on the part of both clubs with Utah again escaping with the narrow victory. The Frogs opened up a 5-1 lead behind Allen's serve and two kills by Smith and a Vaughn smash. The lead was short-lived as Anderson got the Utes on track serving them to a 10-9 advantage. Utah continued to build its lead, gaining its largest lead of the match at 16-12. A 5-1 run by the Frogs, capped by an Otto and Kourtney Edwards denial on the outside tied things at 17. Utah couldn't be stopped as they responded with a 3-1 run to open up a 21-19 advantage. A Vaughn kill would tie things again at 22, but Utah closed out the set, 30-27, on an 8-5 run capped by an Anderson service ace. A pumped up Horned Frog team came out of the break on a tear as they cruised to the game three victory, snapping Utah's 14-game win-streak. The set was a tight affair early on with Utah leading 11-9 at one point. From there, the Frog hitters and blockers came alive. Back-to-back blocks from Vaughn, Hampton and Otto turned the deficit into a 13-12 TCU lead and they never looked back. Another block courtesy of Hampton and Edwards extended TCU's lead to 17-13. Hampton picked up four points during her serve to push the lead to 23-15. Back-to-back triple blocks from Vaughn, Smith and Allen gave TCU a commanding 28-16 advantage and a Vaughn kill off the serve of Connie Dangerfield sealed the 30-18 game three victory for the Frogs. Utah rebounded from the game three defeat and controlled game four from the outset. The Utes opened up a 10-5 lead early thanks to solid serving by Airial Salvo. TCU closed the gap to four on a kill by Allen but the Utes had an answer in Whitney Webb. She tallied six kills of her 19 kills in the set, helping them build a six point advantage late. A Hampton solo denial on an attack by Kathryn Lovell made it a 24-20 Utah lead, but the Utes responded. They closed out the match on a 6-1 run to win 30-21. The Frogs (17-11, 5-8 MWC) return to the court Saturday night when they host the No. 18-ranked BYU Cougars. TCU will honor three seniors following the match, which will start at 7 p.m. in the University Rec Center.
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