By Paul Freelend skiff staff No offense to the Volley Frogs' dancing skills, but they may want to work on their Texas two-step a little more. TCU was the victim of defeats at the hands of two Texas schools, Texas-El Paso and Texas Tech, last weekend. TCU opened its weekend on the road, traveling to Western Athletic Conference foe UTEP to take its third crack at breaking the WAC win column. UTEP was coming off consecutive losses in sweeps to Tulsa and New Mexico State. The Volley Frogs entered the match on a losing streak of their own, dropping matches to Sam Houston State, Hawaii and Southern Methodist. "UTEP was a real frustrating match to me as a coach," head coach Sandy Troudt said. "The staff felt that the team was prepared and ready to play. It wasn't that we played badly but it was just one of those momentum games." Late in the match, the Miners took advantage of an official's no-call and finished out the game by hitting the final point off of the Volley Frogs' block. "After that incident, we came out playing really tentative in the second game," Troudt said. "UTEP was up 7-1 before we ever really got started. "After half-time we came back playing really well. I think that both sides played solid matches, but UTEP played as well as we have ever seen them play." The Miners improved to 5-13 (3-2 WAC) with the 15-13, 15-7, 15-13 win while the Volley Frogs fell to 6-11 (0-3 WAC). Sophomore middle blocker Allison Lynch led TCU's offensive assault with nine kills while fellow sophomore middle blocker Jennifer Sebastian put down eight kills while setting a personal record with 22 total attacks. Though senior outside hitter Jill Pape was held to only three kills, she found another way to make a difference, digging a team high of 14 balls. Sophomore setter Lindsay Hayes set up 29 set assists and assisted seven blocks while Lynch assisted on six blocks. The Volley Frogs' next match up of the weekend was against the Big 12's Texas Tech Red Raiders. The match was TCU's fourth run-in with the Big 12 after matches with Baylor, Missouri and Kansas. "Tech is really playing well right now," Troudt said. "They have been somewhat up and down this season, though. Tech was coming off of a big loss against Baylor last Wednesday, and we felt confident we could play with them." Tech dispatched Oklahoma in a three-game match that took only 47 minutes. The Red Raiders then took that same approach with the Volley Frogs 24 hours later, sweeping TCU 15-6, 15-6, 15-5. TCU put up more resistance than Oklahoma, though, stringing the sweep out to 57 minutes. "Tech has a big lineup," Troudt said. "They have a 6-foot-8-inch outside hitter and two 6-foot-3-inch middle blockers and we just struggled handling such a big block." Tech used a number of streaks to distance itself from the Volley Frogs. Tech topped its first game feat by reeling off the first 12 points of the third and final game. Lynch led the Volley Frogs' offensive efforts again with six kills as well as five assisted blocks while sophomore outside hitter Marci King contributed four kills. Junior outside hitter Amy Atamanczuk dug seven balls and had two block assists. Despite dropping both matches this weekend, Troudt said she was still able to find positives in the team's play this past weekend. "Jennifer Sebastian gave us the best performance she's ever had for us against UTEP," Troudt said. "Bethany Toce traveled with us this weekend, and she gave us a lot of emotional leadership. "That's something that is very important to us. Jessica Rangel (senior middle blocker) had a good weekend as well. She is passing better and digging more balls. We are still young at outside hitter. Both Steph Watson (outside hitter) and Marci King have had moments of brilliance but they also sometimes just launch the ball out of bounds." The Volley Frogs will return home this weekend to play two home conference matches against the WAC's two California representatives. They will play San Jose State (18-1, 4-0 WAC) at 7 p.m. Friday. The Sunday tilt against Fresno State (8-9, 2-2 WAC) will be played at 7 p.m. Saturday. Both matches will be held in the Rickel Building.
Paul Freelend
By Victor Drabicky staff reporter Less than a month ago, the women's soccer team lost leading goal-scorer Sherry Dick and the team's assists leader Tiffany Goetz to injury. Two weekends ago, TCU was outshot 45-5 by California-Los Angeles and San Diego State. This weekend, the chances of the Horned Frogs making the Western Athletic Conference tournament have been diminished by a recent loss to Fresno State. But when the Southern Methodist Mustangs strut onto the field at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the TCU Soccer Complex, the Frogs' minds will not think of recent bad luck. Instead, the TCU soccer players will think solely about 14 years of losing to SMU. "The entire team is excited," freshman defender Brenda DeRose said. "It's a very important game for us." In recent WAC play, the team has experienced organizational problems defensively that have caused problems for the Frogs. "Our coaches have emphasized organization all week long," junior defender Jackie Rodriguez said. "If we don't play organized, we are going to have problems." Head coach David Rubinson said the importance of being in the right mental state will play a major role in Wednesday's game. "The women have to know they can win," Rubinson said. "If they don't know they can win, they will struggle." DeRose said previous upsets, such as the victory over SMU by the men's team earlier in the week, have acted as a sense of inspiration for the team. "Anyone can be beaten," DeRose said. "We just need to convince ourselves that it can happen." Rodriguez said she already knows the outcome of the game. "We will win the game," Rodriguez said.
Victor Drabicky |
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