TCU Beach Volleyball Handles Business to Remain Undefeated
It's time to start rethinking these poll rankings. Even though TCU is No. 5 in the country, they have beat too many top 10 ranked opponents. Okay. Maybe, I'm exaggerating it a little bit. But, this TCU beach volleyball squad is different. They can definitely make some noise this year to possibly bring home 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 over No. 3 Florida State (3-2). TCU won three matches on Sunday defeating No. 19 Georgia State (4-1), No. 3 Florida State (3-2), and Central Arkansas (5-0) to finish the weekend, 5-0, with four ranked wins and the program’s first-ever Top 5 victory.
“This was an insane weekend,” head coach Hector Gutierrez said. “Everyone that was here played at a high level of volleyball. Our girls did a tremendous job managing how the opponents pushed us. We knew that we needed to play our best to beat everyone here. We played really aggressive and we showed that we were the better team this weekend. And that’s not a coincidence, we have been practicing really well and working really hard. We’re 9-0 this season, we need to keep going and keep grinding and keep believing that we can beat anybody. I want to thank everyone for coming out and supporting us this weekend, the alumni, staff, students and families. There’s no way we could have accomplished what we did today without them. I’m really thankful that they came out and supported us. We’ll need them for the rest of the season.”
The weekend victories improve the greatest start to a TCU season to 9-0. The Frogs won all five home matches this weekend, extending its home winning streak to 20 matches, dating back to the 2020 season (March 6, 2020).
TCU defeated four more ranked opponents this weekend: No. 19 Georgia State (4-1), No. 18 South Carolina (4-1), No. 16 Stetson (5-0), and No. 3 Florida State (3-2). The Horned Frogs are 6-0 against ranked opponents this season, the longest streak in program history. TCU beat all four ranked opponents this weekend in consecutive matches, marking the most consecutive wins over ranked opponents ever achieved by TCU.
The Frogs depth was the difference maker all weekend. TCU posted a perfect 15-0 record from the No. 5, No. 4 and No. 3 pairings across the five matches. Alexis Fillippone and Hailey Hamlett (4-0), Maria Gonzalez and Ana Vergara (4-0), and Megan Muret and Rochelle Scott (4-0) all delivered 4-0 weekends with Muret and Hamlett finishing with five wins each.
The Horned Frogs used the same lineup for the matches against 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 pairing of Muret/Scott won all four of their matches in straight sets this weekend. The duo has not dropped a set all season (14-0), posting a 7-0 record. Muret leads TCU with a 9-0 record in her matches this year. The senior transfer from UCLA has won all 18 of her sets this season, winning both of her matches with Tara Patton in straight sets.
Hamlett won all five of her matches this weekend, playing four matches with Fillippone at No. 3, before teaming up with Hailey Brockett to earn her first career win at No. 2, against UCA. Hamlett is 8-1 in her first season of college competition. The New Braunfels, Texas native clinched the match against No. 3 Florida State, with Fillippone, winning in three sets: 19-21, 21-17, 15-8.
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