After a hot start, TCU volleyball could not keep up with the attack of the Kansas State offense, and they fell to the Wildcats 3-1 (27-25, 23-25, 21-25, 21-25) in their final match of the season.
“I thought we came out really strong,” head coach Jill Kramer said. “And then I thought we were just maybe just like a step behind in a lot of facets of the game for whatever reason.”
The Horned Frogs started on fire, ripping off on an early 9-0 run to go up 11-3 early in the first set. They then seemed to go cold offensively, allowing Kansas State to climb back to tie the match at 15-15.
Down the stretch, Walsh came alive for the Horned Frogs with all three of her first set kills in TCU’s last nine points. Her strong play gave the team the strength they needed to outlast the Wildcats and win a tight first set 27-25.
Walsh would finish with 12 kills, 2.0 blocks, and a .300 hitting clip in her last match as a Horned Frog.
“Her [Walsh] impact’s been huge throughout her career here,” Kramer said. “We relied on her heavily for offensive firepower, blocking, all kinds of stuff.”
Although TCU would play well offensively for the rest of the match, their defense could not hold off the onslaught of the Kansas State hitters.
The Wildcats would go on to have attack percentages of 69 percent, 77 percent, and 71 percent in the next three sets respectively.
“Their offensive numbers are crazy,” Kramer said. “In set three, we had 17 kills and we didn’t win the set. That’s unheard of.”
Kansas State outside hitter Kylee Zumach destroyed the Frogs with 21 kills and an outstanding .409 hitting clip. Outside position player Gloria Mutiri and outside hitter Brooke Heyne also pitched in 15 kills and 11 kills for the Wildcats.
With 14 kills and 16 digs from outside hitter élan McCall, TCU was able to put up enough offense to hang with KSU but not enough to finish sets, and the Horned Frogs dropped the match 3-1.
MacLean finished with 14 digs, four kills, and two service aces in her final match.
“She’s [MacLean] just done anything she needed to do to help this team all year long regardless of what position we put her in,” Kramer said.
Libero Berklie Baker added 18 digs to lead the Horned Frogs on defense and middle blocker Katie Clark had 15 kills while hitting .300.
TCU finished the season with a 15-12 record while going 7-9 in Big 12 play.
“If you watched this team last year and you watched this team this year you know how much better we truly are,” Kramer said. “We’ve made a lot of changes, lot of growth, lot of development.”
