TCU Olympic Sports Update: Fall Season Nears End

As the drama that is, and has been, the TCU football season nears what we hope will be a thrilling conclusion, it's a nice time to take a break and reflect on the happenings in some of the other fall sports.  Some, like soccer, golf, and cross-country, have already seen their seasons come and go, while others are still in the heat of battle.  You can see a full recap of what happened earlier this month in our last Olympic Sports Update.

To sum things up, the volleyball team had just defeated No. 2 Texas at home and set themselves up to fight for a top 3 finish in the conference during Jill Kramer's first year at the helm.  Soccer had just seen their season end in penalty kicks at the hands of Baylor in the first round of the Big 12 tournament.  The rifle team is off to their best start in years and have completely dominated any and all comers through the first month of competition.  Today we'll pick up where we left off on 11/6/15, and catch you up on the endeavors of our beloved Olympic sports competitors.

VOLLEYBALL The TCU volleyball team was riding high after a big win over No.2 Texas, but after that victory they faced three out of four games on the road, where they have been far less dominant.  They dropped their first road contest 3-1 to Kansas State, but this still left them fourth in the Big XII with a chance to tie the third place team Iowa State with a win at home. This is where we last left them. Unfortunately, Iowa State won that game 3-0 on 11/7/15 to sweep their season series against the Frogs.

On 11/11/15, the team got a big 3-0 road win against Baylor in Waco, sweeping that season series after beating them at home last month.  The road trip continued as the Frogs next had to travel up to Lawrence where they lost to the No. 10 ranked Jayhawks 3-0. On Wednesday, 11/18/15, The Frogs hosted Texas Tech in the seventh consecutive sell out at the TCU rec center.  They beat the Red Raiders 3-0, sweeping the match and the season series.  The win pushes their record to 18-8 and 8-6 in Big XII play.  They are currently in fifth place in the conference and are two games back from fourth place with two matches left in the regular season. The team will wrap up their season in Norman against OU on 11/21/15 followed by the season finale at home against West Virginia on 11/27/15.

TENNIS The women's tennis team competed at two different events last week.  At the USTA National Indoor Championship in Flushing Meadows, NY on 11/12/15 and 11/13/15, Seda Arantekin and Caroline Wegner formed a winning combination in doubles play.  The duo won three straight three-set matches over the two days of competition to close out the indoor championships with a victory.

Also on Friday 11/13/15, four members of the team traveled to Las Vegas for the Rebel Invitational. Mia King defeated two opponents on her way to the finals in her flight before being beaten by Ella Taylor of LSU. Sofiko Kadzhaya also performed well in singles, winning her first match and coming back after losing her second to claim third place in her flight.  Kadzhaya also competed in doubles play with Aleksandra Zenovka where they went undefeated in the tournament.

The Men's tennis team also competed in the USTA National Indoor Championship in Flushing Meadows, NY on 11/12/15-11/14/15.  Cameron Norrie started the tournament as the No. 2 seed and the No. 15 player nationally.  Norrie, who had not lost a match this fall, was defeated on the second day of the tournament by Tom Fawcett, the No. 20 player nationally, in straight sets. Guillermo Nunez, seeded as the No. 19 player in the tournament, survived to the third day of play to advance to the semifinals of the consolation bracket.  He finally fell in defeat to Benjamin Lock of Florida State.  Both the men's and women's teams have concluded fall play and will resume competition in January.

SWIMMING AND DIVING The swimming and diving teams have only competed once since our last update, in Ames Iowa against Iowa State and South Dakota.  The men's team competed only against South Dakota while the women's team took on South Dakota and Iowa State.  The victory against South Dakota moved the men's team to 4-0 on the season.  The women's team split, also beating South Dakota but losing to Iowa State to drop their record to 3-3 on the year.   Overall, TCU came in first place in 16 of the 32 events. Both teams are heading to College Station on 11/19/15-11/21/15 to compete in the Aggie Invitational.

EQUESTRIAN TCU was ranked No. 6 overall going into an 11/13/15 contest against Kansas State on the road.  They dropped a close decision in that one, losing by an overall score of 9-10. Two Horned Frogs won two MOP honors in Manhatten, with Molly Peddicord winning in Equitation over Fences and Megan McMullen winning in Horsemanship.

The very next day, on 11/14/15, TCU traveled from Manhattan, KS to Stillwater, OK to take on No. 5 overall Oklahoma State.  It was a tough weekend on the road overall and the Frogs dropped the second of the two matches as well, this time by a score of 8-12. Megan McMullen again earned MOP in Horsemanship, while Molly Peddicord remained undefeated in  Equitation over Fences on the year.  Chantz Stewart also remains undefeated on the year when competing in horsemanship.

The Equestrian team has wrapped up their fall schedule with a record of 3-4 overall.  Unfortunately, TCU has had three of their four losses come against conference opponents and their record in conference is 0-3. The Frogs will resume competition on 2/5/15 against Fresno State at home in Springtown, TX.

RIFLE The rifle team continues to steamroll everyone in their way in 2015.  After beating Air Force in Colorado to close out last month, TCU traveled to Columbus, Ohio to take on Ohio State on 11/15/15. They handled the Buckeyes in Ohio with a score of 4,695-4,658 to improve to 7-0 on the season.  The Frogs shot a score of 2,326 in smallbore, led by Rachel Garner who had a high score of 587. Two others, Sally Li and Ariana Grabowski also shot over 580 and no one on the team scored less than 576.

In the air rifle competition, the team scored a total of 2,369.  Hannah Black led this competition with a season-high score of 595.  Sally Li and Nicole Hankey also both shot above 590, posting scores of 594 and 593 respectively. Black and Li tied for first place overall while Hankey came in third.  The Frogs will travel to West Point, NY this weekend to take on Army on 11/22/15.  The match with Army will be the rifle team's last of the fall, and they will begin the spring season with a rematch against Ohio State in January at home.

Thanks to www.gofrogs.com for most of the stats and information in this article.