A strong opening set laid the foundation for TCU’s fourth victory of the season, a 3-0 (25-12, 25-23, 25-13) sweep over UNC Asheville Saturday afternoon in the Frogs’ second match of the Home2Suites Tallahassee Seminole Invitational on the campus of Florida State University.
“It is always telling to see how your team responds after a loss, especially after the first loss of the season,” head coach Jill Kramer said. “It shows their character and all that kind of stuff and then what you need to tackle as a coach for the remainder of the season.”
Kramer praised her team’s improvement from yesterdays match following the game.
“Our team did such a great job of preparing to play today,” Kramer said. “We spent a lot of time watching video from our match yesterday to see where we can get better at and we scouted UNC Asheville just like we scout any other team. The girls came in prepared and with a lot of energy and this was a team that came in and played hard.”
The Frogs dominated the first set, defeating the Bulldogs by 13 points due to the strong play on the net, totaling five blocks and 12 kills in the set.
The second set tested the Frogs’ mettle. At one point, the women were down by seven points, but junior outside hitter Ashleigh Martin led the comeback with five kills and the Frogs closed the set on a 5-0 run to win 25-23.
“UNC Asheville played great defense and they never gave up,” Kramer said. “They played hard the whole time. We were kind of tight there in the second set and had a little bit of a deficit that we had to climb out of and we came together and did that.”
The Frogs didn’t look back as they dictated play in the third set with a .370 hitting clip on their way to their fourth sweep of the season.
Martin led TCU in kills for the second straight match with 13 along with a .435 hitting clip and two blocks. Freshman outside hitter Allye Beth Deaton totaled nine kills on the match with a .320 hitting percentage, and fellow freshman middle blocker Sarah Swanson recorded five blocks for the second straight match. Senior setter Lamprini Konstantinidou led the team for the third straight match with 19 assists, and freshman libero Dani Dennison recorded double-digit digs for the fifth straight match with 19 to lead the team. The team served a season-high nine aces with junior middle blocker Anna Walsh recording three.
The Frogs will conclude the Home2Suites Seminole Invitational Sunday against No. 15 Florida State in a highly anticipated matchup. The game will be played at noon and broadcasted on ACC Network Extra.
