It’s time to start rethinking those poll rankings. Even though TCU is No. 5 in the nation, they’ve beaten too many top-10 ranked opponents. Agreed. Maybe I’m exaggerating a bit. But this TCU beach volleyball team is different. They can certainly make some noise this year to possibly win a national championship.
No. 5 TCU Beach Volleyball (9-0) delivered a performance for the record books on the final day of the Horned Frog Challenge, earning the biggest win in program history against No. 3 Florida State ( 3-2). TCU won three games on Sunday defeating No. 19 Georgia State (4-1), No. 3 Florida State (3-2) and Central Arkansas (5-0) to complete the weekend, 5-0, with four ranked wins and the program’s first-ever Top 5 victory.
“It was a crazy weekend,” said the head coach Hector Gutierrez noted. “Everyone who was here played at a high level of volleyball. Our girls did a tremendous job managing the way the opponents pushed us. We knew we had to play our best to beat everyone here. We played very aggressive and we showed that we were the best team this weekend. And it’s no coincidence, we trained very well and worked very hard. We are 9-0 this season, we have to keep going and keep working and keep believing we can beat anybody. I want to thank everyone for coming out to support us this weekend, alumni, staff, students and families. There’s no way we could have accomplished what we did today without them. I’m really grateful that they came and supported us. We will need it for the rest of the season.
The weekend wins take TCU’s best start to the season to 9-0. The Frogs won all five home games this weekend, extending their home winning streak to 20 games, dating back to the 2020 season (March 6, 2020).
TCU beat four other ranked opponents this weekend: No. 19 Georgia State (4-1), No. 18 South Carolina (4-1), No. 16 Stetson (5-0) and Florida State No. 3 (3-2). The Horned Frogs are 6-0 against ranked opponents this season, the longest streak in program history. TCU defeated all four ranked opponents this weekend in consecutive games, scoring the most consecutive wins over ranked opponents ever for TCU.
The depth of the frogs made the difference all weekend. TCU posted a perfect 15-0 record with the No. 5, No. 4, and No. 3 pairings in all five games. Alexis Fillippone and Hailey Hamlet (4-0), Maria Gonzalez and Ana Vergara (4-0), and Megane Muret and Rochelle Scott (4-0) all delivered 4-0 weekends with Muret and Hamlett finishing with five wins apiece.
The Horned Frogs used the same formation for games against the No. 19 GSU and No. 3 FSU before using four new pairings (Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno stayed at No. 1) to defeat UCA, 5-0, the third sweep of the season.
The Muret/Scott pair won their four matches in straight sets this weekend. The duo haven’t dropped a set all season (14-0), posting a 7-0 record. Muret leads TCU with a 9-0 record in his games this year. The senior transfer from UCLA has won all of his 18 sets this season, winning both of his matches with Tara Patton in straight sets.
Hamlett won all five of his games over the weekend, playing four games with Fillippone at No. 3, before teaming up with Hailey Brockett for his first career victory at No. 2, against UCA. Hamlett is 8-1 in his first competitive college season. The New Braunfels, Texas native won the match against No. 3 Florida State, with Fillippone winning in three sets: 19-21, 21-17, 15-8.
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