It’s a developing trend that the Hawaii women’s volleyball team hopes to end real quick.
The Rainbow Wahine’s inability to close out leads late in sets hurt them once again on Thursday as TCU rallied for a 25-27, 27-25, 25-15, 25-20 win over Hawaii to open the Fight in the Fort Tournament in Fort Worth, Texas.
Melanie Parra’s 27th kill of the match — from the back row — ended it for the Horned Frogs (5-4), who have won five of six after starting their season 0-3.
Caylen Alexander had a career-high 21 kills and 10 digs for Hawaii (5-4), which is going in the opposite direction with three losses in its past four matches.
Senior middle Amber Igiede hit .393 with 14 kills, and senior Kendra Ham, starting her first match of the season in place of freshman Tali Hakas, added a career-high eight kills and a season-high 13 digs.
Hawaii let a 22-17 lead in the first set disappear before pulling it out with the final three points. It wasn’t so lucky in the second set, as TCU survived four Hawaii set points in a row to even the match instead of fall behind 2-0.
“I think it’s all just about what we’re doing on our side,” said Ham, a senior who made her second career start. “We’ve got to learn to kind of control the game ourselves. Just going out there knowing we have each other’s backs. We’re working really hard to play well as a team, and I think that’s our biggest challenge now, just trying to keep it a steady game.”
Junior setter Kate Lang, who is from nearby Keller, Texas, finished with a match-high 49 assists, eight digs and two block assists.
The three-time Big West Conference Setter of the Week this season had Hawaii dialed in with a .342 hitting percentage in the second set, but the Horned Frogs had 13 of their 16 blocks over the final two sets to run away with it at the end.
TCU entered the week ranked in the top 10 in Division I in blocks per game. UH hit .000 in the third set with 10 hitting errors.
“I think that’s something we’ve kind of talked about with any loss is we’ve got to control the game ourselves more and get that momentum back,” Ham said. “When they get that momentum we’ve got to stop it.”
Hawaii coach Robyn Ah Mow’s jacket came off early as Hawaii fell behind 10-6 before rattling off a six-point run with Talia Edmonds serving for a 12-10 lead in the opening set.
UH built the lead to five points and led 22-17 on an errant TCU set.
Parra had five kills for TCU in an 8-2 run to give the Horned Frogs match point at 25-24 after an Audrey Nalls kill.
Ah Mow used her second timeout and Hawaii rallied with the final three points on two Alexander kills and a Ham kill on an overpass to avoid letting the first set slip away.
Hawaii overcame one lost lead late but couldn’t do it again in the second set.
Three hitting errors allowed TCU to turn a 24-20 deficit into a 25-24 lead. Parra finished off the set with back-to-back kills after an Alexander kill tied it at 25-all.
TCU jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the third set and didn’t trail in the match again until a Riley Wagoner kill put UH ahead 8-7 in the fourth set. That was Hawaii’s only lead in the final two sets.
Hawaii will continue the tournament this morning against Western Carolina at 9 a.m.
TCU DEF. HAWAII
25-27, 27-25, 25-15, 25-20
RAINBOW WAHINE (5-4)
S K E ATT PCT D BA PTS
Edmonds 4 0 0 0 .000 13 0 1.0
Evans 4 6 3 15 .200 0 3 8.5
Ham 4 8 7 24 .042 13 0 8.0
Igiede 4 14 3 28 .393 1 1 17.5
Wagoner 4 5 6 27 -.037 7 0 6.0
Lang 4 1 1 3 .000 8 2 2.0
Alexander 4 21 9 49 .245 10 2 22.0
Hakas 1 1 1 7 .000 3 0 1.0
MATCH 4 56 30 153 .170 55 8 66.0
HORNED FROGS (5-4)
S K E ATT PCT D BA PTS
Green 4 6 2 10 .400 3 10 11
Nalls 4 9 9 36 .000 9 4 14
Parra 4 27 3 53 .453 7 3 31.5
Bramschrbr. 4 0 0 0 .000 12 0 0.0
Sylvester 4 2 0 3 .667 0 3 4.5
Gibson 4 6 4 27 .074 11 4 10.0
Buckley 4 4 0 4 1.000 10 2 5.0
Weigelt 3 0 0 1 .000 1 0 1.0
Adams 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0.0
MATCH 4 54 18 134 .269 53 26 77.0
Key — s: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors;
att: attempts; pct: hitting percentage; d:
digs; ba: block assists; pts: points (kills
plus blocks plus aces).
Service aces — Hawaii 4 (Igiede 2, Edmonds,
Wagoner). TCU 7 (Parra 3, Gibson
2, Nalls, Weigelt). Service errors — Hawaii
10 (Alexander 3, Ham 3, Igiede 3, Edmonds).
TCU 7 (Parra 5, Bramschreiber,
Gibson). Assists — Hawaii 54 (Lang 49,
Wagoner 2, Edmonds, Hakas, Igiede).
TCU 47 (Buckley 40, Bramschreiber 2,
Parra 2, Gibson, Green, Sylvester). Block
solos — Hawaii 2 (Evans, Igiede).
TCU 3 (Nalls 2, Sylvester). Ball handling
errors — Hawaii none. TCU 1 (Buckley).
Reception errors — Hawaii 7 (Edmonds
3, Team 2, Wagoner 2). TCU 4 (Bramschreiber
2, Parra 2).
T—2:18. A—1,082. Officials—Brian Hemelgarn,
Mara Wager.
