TCU Volleyball Adds Seven New Players To Roster
With a new coach comes recruits and transfers. This statement remains true as TCU’s Volleyball Coach, Jason Williams, receives his first signing class. TCU had a pretty good 2022 recruiting class as they gained seven new Horned Frogs; four are true freshmen, and the other three are transfers from another university. The Frogs are getting some highly recruited players with great resumes who will impact the team immediately.
New Transfer Players:
Going from green to purple is Setter Ashlyn Bourland as she transfers from the University of North Texas. Bourland, a fellow Fort Worth native, attended Eaton High School and joined the Frogs after a redshirt season at North Texas. Bourland was both pro on the court and solid in the classroom. For example, she graduated high school a year early and had some pretty impressive awards, such as the 2021 C-USA Commissioner’s Honor medal. She also earned a place on the North Texas 2021 President’s List for a 4.0 GPA. She is the oldest daughter of Brad and Erica Bourland and the granddaughter of Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Mike Bourland, an All-Southwest Conference guard for the Bears from 1963-65.
Defensive Specialist Sabrina Sustala out of Cypress Ranch High School in Cypress, Texas, is next on our transfer list as she goes from the SEC Conference to the Big 12 Conference. Sustala spent the last three seasons with Texas A&M University, where she played 150 sets over her time with the Aggies. At Texas A&M, she recorded 259 digs, 69 assists, and 10 aces. Sustala matches her career-best last season with 19 digs against Mississippi State as the first of four consecutive 10+ dig performances in SEC play. Sustala and the Aggies reached the NCAA Tournament and made it to the Sweet 16. She will look to do this again and potentially make it even further within her two years of eligibility at TCU. She is the daughter of Tommy and Carol Sustala and the younger sister of Brandon.
Outside Hitter Lyric Stewart, who attended Lake Ridge High School in Mansfield, Texas, has decided to return home to her home state after transferring from the University of Georgia to TCU after only one year with the bulldogs. As a true freshman, Stewart played 29 sets, equating to 58 kills and 22 total blocks. Her best performance was against Pepperdine this past season, where she charted 15 kills on .500, hitting with four blocks. In high school, Stewart had some great honors and awards attached to her name. Stewart was named newcomer of the year as a freshman. She was named team captain as a sophomore and picked up first-team all-district honors. She repeated her high achievements as a junior while earning District Player of the Year, All-Area, All-Region, and All-state team honors and the First Team Academic awards across three seasons. Stewart played her club career with Texas Advantage Volleyball, the No. 1 ranked club team in the country, where she won a silver medal in 2018 at USAV Junior Nationals.
First Year Recruits:
Defensive Specialist Riley Weigelt comes straight out of Vandegrift High School in Austin, Texas. Weigelt had a tremendous high school career. She posted a TGCA All-State performance in her senior season. She was named 2nd Team All-District and was the DS/L Representative on the All-Region team. Weigelt helped Vandegrift High School get to the District Championship in her sophomore and junior seasons while excelling in the classroom. She earned recognition for AP Academic Scholar, National Honor Society, and Science National Honor Society. Weigelt is the daughter of Wayne and Tiffany Weigelt and the older sister of Tripp.
The following player is an outside hitter from Brandeis High School in San Antonio, Texas, and is ranked number 68 in her class; her name is Jalyn Gibson. Gibson led her high school team to their first-ever Class 6A State Championship, earning herself the title of tournament MVP. But, she does not stop there with her awards and accolades. Gibson also earned State MVP, District 28-6A MVP, TGCA All-State, TGCA Player of the Year, AVCA Under Armour 1st team All-American, AVCA all-region, and Texas Sports Writer’s Player of the Year. In addition, she had an awe-inspiring senior season with the whole country watching her; she recorded 641 kills, 737 digs, 44 aces, and 64 blocks as Brandeis high school went 47-2 and finished Number 3 in the nation. Her high school career concluded with 1,950 kills and 2,152 digs. She is the daughter of Jabari Gibson and Keri Hall and the younger sister of Gavin. She joins her high school teammate Carlee Pharris on the Horned Frogs roster.
Defensive Specialist Gabrielle Maas is from Cherokee Trail High School in Aurora, Colorado. Maas had a quite stellar high school career. In her senior season, she led her conference in digs with 471. Maas served as team captain as well as holding the honor of 1st Team All-Conference and received an invite to the 5A Colorado Coaches’ All-State game, earning All-State Honorable Mention. Maas’ leadership and discipline continued into the classroom, where she earned two-time academic All-State recognition. She is the daughter of Dustin and Jana Maas and the older sister of Jack.
The number 66-ranked player in the 2022 recruiting class is Sarah Sylvester. She is a middle blocker from Marian High School in Livonia, Michigan. She is a two-time state champion, and this might shed some light on why she was able to help her team accomplish this. She was named AVCA second-team All-American, All-State first-team, and a Michigan Miss Volleyball finalist after recording 247 kills and 95 blocks on .435 hitting in her senior high school season. She is the daughter of Robert and Marie Sylvester and the little sister of Thomas, a baseball player at Kalamazoo College. Sylvester was also a high school basketball standout, earning back-to-back All Catholic High School league honors on the hardwood.
Coach Williams stated about this recruiting class, “I am beyond thrilled to announce this amazing 2022 signing class,” Coach Williams said. “Beyond bringing in some experienced transfers, we have a group of incoming freshmen that have had tremendous success at the high school and club level, which includes Texas State Champions and USA Junior National Champions. This class will help set the stage for what TCU Volleyball will look like moving forward, and I think everyone who has been able to get to know them and their commitment level is super excited and enthusiastic about our future.”
Read our article about the 2022 Volleyball schedule by clicking here.
Want to join the discussion? Click here to become a member of the Killer Frogs message board community today!
Follow KillerFrogs on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest TCU news! Follow KillerFrogs on Facebook and Instagram as well. Download the KillerFrogs app on Google Play or in the Apple App Store.