TCU Volleyball Sweeps Hawaii in First Round of NCAA Tournament

For the third straight year, the Horned Frogs advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Dec. 5, 2024-TCU Volleyball celebrates a NCAA tournament win over Hawaii in three sets in Eugene, Oregon. / X: @TCUvolleyball

The road to the National Championship began on Thursday night as No. 20 TCU took on Hawaii in Eugene, Oregon. It was smooth sailing for the Frogs as they won in straight sets behind a record-setting performance from Melanie Parra. Her 24 kills set a school record for the most kills in a three set match.

Hawaii took an early 7-5 lead in set one before the Frogs responded with a 6-0 run sparked by a Parra kill. She gave TCU a 15-11 lead with back-to-back kills at the media timeout. TCU never trailed for the rest of the set as a kill from Parra and a block from Sarah Sylvester closed it out.

In set two, Parra once again sparked a 4-0 run to give TCU a 12-7 lead. This run was met with much more resistance as Hawaii evened things up at 15. All tied at 18, Becca Kelley landed a big kill to give the lead back to the Frogs. They didn't surrender a point for the rest of the set as a pair of attack errors gave TCU a commanding 2-0 lead.

When it looked like Hawaii would fall behind early in set three at 7-4, the Rainbow Wahine responded with a much needed 5-0 run started by Stella Adeyemi. But just as Hawaii started to capture momentum, the Horned Frogs struck back with a 5-0 run of their own. All tied at 22, TCU needed one final push to win this match. Parra came through yet again with two consecutive kills and Jalyn Gibson picked up an ace to win it.

The TCU defense was strong at the net on Thursday. Sylvester, Parra and Alexis Roberson each finished with four blocks. Sylvester moved to seventh all time in blocks at TCU. The offensive efforts of Parra were tremendous. If she keeps this play up, there is no doubt TCU could make a deep run in this tournament.

Standing in the way of their first ever Sweet 16 is a match with No. 14 Oregon. That match with start on Friday at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN+.

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