It was a back-and-forth battle to start the first set of play between the Aggies and the Horned Frogs. Serving was not a strong point for either squad, as they both faulted multiple times before the Aggies tied the set at 7-7.
The two teams had some strong rallies before TCU pulled away with a score of 20-15. TCU, led by the pairing of outside hitters sophomore Jalyn Gibson and junior Melanie Parra who grabbed 4 kills each, caused Texas A&M coach Jamie Morrison to call a timeout.
The Horned Frogs grabbed the first set, as they were swarming to the ball and not giving the Aggies’ offense a chance to catch their breath. This was the first set A&M had dropped in five games.
It was more of the same to begin the second set, as neither team was able to pull away. A&M grabbed a pair of aces, looking to stall TCU from attaining any momentum. The Purple and White, however, built a slight lead before sophomore middle blocker Morgan Perkins rallied the Aggies back with two electric kills.
With his team down 20-14, Morrison challenged a tipped ball in hopes of gaining some momentum. His challenge was unsuccessful, and TCU grabbed the set point with a final score of 25-17.
This put the Fightin’ Farmers down 2-0, and they would need to come from behind to avoid defeat for the first time this season. The impenetrable TCU defense was led by graduate student middle blocker Brianna Green, who had multiple crowd-silencing blocks.
“I thought we were passive, they did a better job at being us than us. We didn’t do anything necessarily poorly, there was just a passiveness to it.” Morrison said. “We gotta learn to go out and take it to the other team, that’s the biggest thing.”
The Maroon and White came out firing to start the third crucial set. With their backs against the wall, A&M went up 8-2. Sophomore opposite hitter Logan Lednecky had an athletic kill that got the whole crowd out of their seats.
TCU tied the score at 11-a-piece before graduate outside hitter Caroline Meuth got the lead back for A&M.
A rejuvenated Aggie squad took the third set 25-21. The set was capped off with an excellent block by Perkins to give A&M its first victory.
TCU, after dropping the third set, looked reinvigorated in the fourth, leading the Aggies 14-7 and forcing Morrison to call another timeout. This proved beneficial, as his crew would claw back to only be down 16-13, making TCU call its first timeout of the set.
Even with a valiant effort, A&M lost the fourth set 17-25, giving the Maroon and White its first loss of the year..
The Aggies, now 7-1, will be back in action on Sep. 13, facing another in-state rival in the Houston Cougars.