No. 17 TCU overwhelms No. 23 BYU women's volleyball with 5-set win

PROVO — In the sixth five-set match of the 2024 season, No. 23 BYU women's volleyball has been able to take something away from each of them.

The learning process continued Saturday night.

Melanie Parra poured in 25 kills, five digs and five blocks, and Jalyn Gibson added 11 kills, eight digs and five blocks as No. 17 TCU held off the Cougars in five sets (25-18, 23-25, 27-25, 17-25, 18-16) in front of 3,963 fans at the Smith Fieldhouse.

Claire Little totaled 23 kills, seven digs and three aces, and Brielle Kemavor added 18 kills and five blocks for BYU (10-6, 3-3 Big 12). Kate Prior supplied 10 kills and three blocks, and Alex Bower dished out 53 assists and 11 digs for the Cougars.

The Horned Frogs held BYU to .000 hitting to open the fifth set, with four kills and four errors on 12 swings as TCU took an 8-6 lead. Kjersti Strong and Claire Little tied the set at 11-all with back-to-back kills, and Brielle Kemavor rose up over the middle to tie the set at 13-13.

But Parra, who ranks second in the NCAA with 5.22 kills per set, was too much, putting down her 25th kill to rally the Frogs by BYU, 18-16 in the fifth set.

"Parra has a great toolbox of shots. She's a great volleyball player, and she took some big rips," said BYU coach Heather Olmstead, whose team fell to 1-5 in five-set matches. "I thought she moved the ball well around the court, and found 25 ways to score."

Lily Nicholson dished out 49 assists and 11 digs for TCU (11-5, 3-3 Big 12), and Alice Volpe had 15 digs for the Horned Frogs.

After BYU raced out to a 25-18 lead in the first set behind dynamic performances by Little and Prior, TCU came roaring back in the second.

Parra poured in nine of her then-match-high 13 kills as TCU out-hit BYU, .240 to .194 en route to a 25-23 win to tie up the match.

Nothing would be as easy as the first set. If the Cougars had any such notions, they were dead wrong.

Parra, the native of Sinaloa, Mexico, who had one of the best seasons in program history for the Frogs last year en route to unanimous All-Big 12 first-team honors after three years at Texas, slammed a kill to lift TCU to a 6-2 advantage in the third set. But Kemavor scored three points during an 8-2 run that included a solo block to go up 15-13 midway through the set.

Prior jumped out of the gym to stretch the lead to 17-14 with a solo block. Nicholson tied the match at 18-18 with a kill, and Jalyn Gibson's solo block tied it again at 23-all as TCU held the Cougars to .114 hitting to take the third set, 27-25.

Kemavor scored back-to-back points during a 5-0 run, including a solo block to lift BYU to a 22-15 lead in the fourth set. Kemavor had four kills and two blocks as the Cougars out-hit TCU, .296 to .188 en route to a 25-17 win that forced the decisive fifth set.

"We just keep talking about what can we learn from these experiences, and how can we get better," Olmstead said. "It's just trying to be consistent and execute in the big moments. We've still got more to learn.

"I like how we fought back in the fifth set, how we fought in the fourth. We're just trying to keep finding our consistency. I thought Brielle Kemavor was fantastic offensively, and kept us in the game with some big swings."

BYU will hit the road next Wednesday, Oct. 16 to face Iowa State before returning home Saturday, Oct. 19 to host rival Utah at 7 p.m. MDT.

Related topics