An explosion for the Frogs in the third set wasn’t enough to get the win in the final match of the Home2Suites Tallahassee Seminole Invitational as Florida State defeated the Horned Frogs in four sets (25-16, 25-23, 23-25, 25-21). The Frogs now fall to 4-2 on the season.
The Frogs now fall to 4-2 on the season.
“This was a hard-fought match on both sides of the net,” head coach Jill Kramer said.
A slow start for TCU proved fatal as the Seminoles opened the match with a .519 hitting clip to take the first set, but the second set was much more competitive, one in which the Horned Frogs found themselves in front 22-20 late. The Seminoles buckled down late and recorded five consecutive points to steal the set.
TCU gained momentum in the match and took the third set from Florida State as they totaled 17 kills and a .342 hitting percentage to force a fourth set.
“I really liked the way our team fought when we were down two sets,” Kramer said. “We hadn’t been in that situation before and there was still a lot of fight in them.”
An exciting fourth set featured five lead changes and the score was tied nine times. Florida State took the set on a late 5-0 run to win the final set 25-21.
Junior outside hitter Ashleigh Martin led the team for the third straight match with 15 kills, while fellow junior outside hitter Lexi MacLean totaled 13 kills and freshman outside hitter Allye Beth Deaton recorded 11 kills. Freshman libero Dani Dennison continued her streak of double-digit dig matches with 24 and freshman defensive specialist Berklie Baker totaled eight digs and served three aces.
Four Horned Frogs recorded season-high statistics in the match. Martin and MacLean recorded season-highs in kills, Dennison earned a season-high in digs, and Baker’s aces were good for a season-high.
Senior setter Kaylee Smith led the team in assists for the third time this season with 25 in the match, and senior setter Lamprini Konstantinidou totaled 23 Sunday afternoon.
“This is probably the most detailed scout we have given them, and we started planning out some new things that none of them have done before,” Kramer said. “We had worked on it in practice a little bit, but we changed up some things we did defensively. We will learn those because we are going to have to do those at some point during match play. It was really promising though and I saw a lot of really promising things in this match.”
The Frogs will return to the friendly confines of The Rickel inside the University Recreation Center as they host The Fight for the Fort from Sept. 8-9. TCU will host Duke Friday at 6:00 p.m. The match will be broadcasted live on FOX Sports Southwest Plus.
