Three Horned Frogs ended their career at home with a five-game match victory over the No. 17 Colorado State Rams.”Our team, for the first time, played lights out every single point,” head coach Prentice Lewis said. “There had been times in most of our other matches that we would let five or six points go, and we did not do that at all tonight.”
Loren Barry, Calli Corley and LeMeita Smith helped the Frogs (22-11, 9-7) win their last game in Fort Worth, (22-30, 30-22, 22-30, 30-28, 18-16).
“I can’t talk about the seniors, I’ll cry,” Lewis said. “Our seniors are phenomenal.”
The match started with a 30-22 loss in game one, but the Frogs bounce back to win by the same score in game two.
TCU led by as much as nine in the game, and went on a 9-1 run during the game to pull away from Colorado State (20-6, 12-3).
After already losing game three, the Horned Frogs trailed 27-23 in game four. Lewis called a time out to regroup her team.
While in the time out, half of the lights in the special events gym at the University Recreation Center went out. When the lights came back on, about five minutes later, a rejuvenated TCU team took the court and scored seven of the next eight points to win the game.
“I don’t know if (the lights going out) gave us a spark, but it gave us some time to collect ourselves and when we came back we took over like a storm,” Lewis said. “They weren’t taking no for an answer.”
After that comeback, the Frogs took a 14-11 lead in the decisive game five, and four game points later the crowd erupted and the entire TCU bench rushed the court.
This win puts TCU in good position going into the Mountain West Conference tournament, Lewis said.
“Beating a top-25 going into the tournament only helps you,” Lewis said. “We have been on an upswing since about two weeks ago. We are playing our best volleyball right now and that is what you want to have at the end of the year. We are very fortunate that we aren’t one of the teams that is breaking down right now.”
TCU will have the No. 4 seed in the tournament and will begin the tournament Thanksgiving Day in Las Vegas.
