The only sounds that can usually be heard in Schollmaier Arena in the month of February are of a basketball pounding on the hardwood floor and fans cheering for TCU Basketball.
That wasn’t the case on Saturday, though, as TCU Volleyball made their return to Schollmaier Arena as part of their spring season formed by the NCAA in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Though the return of the Frogs was a welcoming sight for the few hundred fans that came out to see the match, TCU was unable to get their first win of the spring, as they struggled offensively and fell 3-0 to Texas State.
Despite putting up 101 attacks as a team (eight more than their opponent), the Frogs hit just .158 in the match, putting up just 35 total kills as opposed to the 44 of the Bobcats.
Texas State was led by outside hitter Caitlan Buettner, who finished with a game-high 10 kills. No TCU players were able to reach double-digit kills, with middle blocker Katie Clark leading the way with eight.
One bright side of the day for the Frogs was libero Dani Dennison. The senior finished with a game-high 13 digs, giving her 1,350 for her career and moving her into third all-time on TCU’s leaderboard.
The first set was dominated by the Bobcats. Before the Frogs could blink, they were down 10 and could seemingly do nothing about it.
Ii only took 20 minutes for Texas State to take the first set 25-14, but even worse for TCU, starting setter McKenzie Nichols and starting outside hitter Julia Adams had been removed from the match for an unannounced reason and would not return.
Without two of their biggest pieces, the Frogs looked determined to make the match competitive in the second set, taking an early 9-4 lead thanks to three kills from middle blocker Afedo Manyang.
Texas State came right back though, punishing the TCU defense for a resounding 9-0 run to retake the lead.
Though the match was a back-and-forth battle from there, the Bobcats won a late challenge call that seemingly cut the Frogs momentum, and Texas State pulled away late for a 25-22 victory.
Even when down 2-0, TCU didn’t give up in the third set. The first two points of the set went to the Frogs after long rallies between the two teams.
With Texas State holding a 6-point lead late, outside hitter Audrey Nalls and Dennison combined for a jaw-dropping save of a ball that had sailed out of bounds, leading to a TCU point.
The Frogs were not able to create any chances following the play and the Bobcats won the final set 25-19 to finish the sweep.
In place of Nichols, setter Alyssa Heist finished with 22 assists for TCU, posting her second-career match with 20 or more assists.
Next Friday, the Frogs will head just up the road to UT-Arlington. First serve is set for March 5 at 2 p.m.
