Cougars Fall at TCU

FORT WORTH -- The No. 21 BYU women’s volleyball team dropped a three-setter Saturday afternoon at TCU, falling 25-22, 25-18, 25-15 to move to 9-5 overall and 2-3 in Mountain West Conference play on the year.

“TCU is a good team,” said BYU head coach Shay Goulding. “They played well, and we didn’t. We just have to find a way to fight back and take care of some things this week in practice.”

Senior Rachel Dyer and junior Kayla Walker led the way for BYU with seven kills each while sophomore libero Melissa Lake tallied a match-high 15 digs. Four Horned Frogs posted seven kills to pace TCU.

A 4-0 TCU run set the tone early in set one as the Horned Frogs took a 12-8 lead despite early trouble from the service line. BYU’s Dyer took control from there as she led a 4-0 run that featured two kills and a block from the senior co-captain to give BYU a 13-12 lead. The advantage was short-lived, however, as TCU climbed back to regain the advantage. A battle ensued from there to an 18-18 tie, but TCU began to gain ground as the set progressed, slowly building the lead to take the set 25-22.

Set two began going the Cougars’ way with a 6-3 lead, but three straight points from the home team quickly knotted the score. As the set wore on, BYU managed to stay one step ahead of the Horned Frogs to a 16-14 advantage. However, from there the set was all TCU as the Horned Frogs scored 11 of the last 13 points to shut down BYU and take the 25-18 win. With their backs against the wall, the Cougars could not come up with plays they needed in set three as TCU took a commanding 12-4 lead and never looked back to a 25-14 win.

After playing 10 of their first 14 matches on the road, the Cougars will now return home for three matches over the next two weeks. The first of those contests is Thursday at 7 p.m. against San Diego State in the Smith Fieldhouse.