Comeback Cougars Defeat Horned Frogs

FORT WORTH -- Starting with identical conference records, the BYU women’s volleyball team (9-13, 4-4 MWC) came back from a nine-point deficit in the fourth set to beat TCU (12-10, 3-5 MWC) 3-1 on the road.

“I am thrilled with the win and the tenacity the team showed today,” BYU head coach Shay Goulding said. “We were letting a lot of tips fall in the beginning of the fourth set, but we finally were able to get under the ball and get our hits in the court. I was very happy with the outcome against a tough TCU team.”

With four Cougars in double-digit kills, true freshman Jennifer Hamson led on the attack with 15 kills while Stephanie Snow and Christie Carpenter both chalked up 14 kills apiece. Christina Measom added 11 kills while Nicole Warner had eight blocks.

Three Cougars had double-digit digs with libero Kendalyn Hartsock leading the way with 16, followed by Kiana Rogers with 13 and Carpenter with 10. Rogers also tallied 53 assists in the win.

The Cougars were up two sets to one, trailing by nine points at 17-8 in the fourth when they began their comeback. Battling back with all they had, the Cougars gradually chipped away at the score thanks to solid play from Carpenter, Snow, Hamson and Warner. Warner finished off the set with a service ace at 26-24.

Two-straight Carpenter kills began set one for the Cougars, eventually gaining a three-point lead at 9-6 after a kill by Warner and a bad set on the Frogs. TCU battled back to knot the score at 10, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 before the Cougars pulled away with three-straight points by Carpenter, Snow, and a block by Snow and Rogers to end set one with a 25-20 win.

Set two was also evenly matched between the two teams with 12 ties. The Cougars performed well, but lost the last few points to the Horned Frogs, falling 25-23.

Involved in another nail biter, the Cougars pulled out victorious in the third set, wining 25-23. With back-and-forth play the entire set, the Cougars would get up by three, followed by a TCU 3-0 run, and vice versa. Warner and Snow came up with the last two kills for the Cougars to win it.

The Cougars come back to Utah to start the second half of Mountain West Conference play at the University of Utah on Friday at 7 p.m.