FORT WORTH, TX – University of the Incarnate Word fell to Texas Christian University (TCU) on Tuesday evening. (3-1) The Cardinals secured their first set win against the Horned Frogs in program history.
 
Bethany Clapp reached her 1,000^th career kill in tonight's match, where she led the team with 15 total kills, bringing her career total to 1,010.
 
"[Coach] Sam has been telling me how close I was to 1,000 kills since the beginning of the season and it was a goal of mine to get it before conference," said Clapp. "It's super exciting to see my hard work and progress since first coming to UIW come together."
 
The Corpus Christi native is having a historic start to her senior season. Clapp had season highs of 23 kills against Abilene Christian University (8/28/21) and 21 digs against the University of Texas at San Antonio (9/7/21). So far, Clapp has tallied 137 kills on the season. Prior to the season, she was selected to the Southland Conference 2021 Preseason All-Conference first team.
 
"I am extremely proud of Bethany," said head coach Samantha Dabbs Thomas. "She was my first recruit and for her to achieve this milestone is huge for her and this program."
 
Other leaders on the night came from Chase Jackson with eight kills. Then, Risa Sena (7) and Natalie Kimmel (5) joined in on the offensive fun. Kimmel led the team with 26 total assists to spark the Cardinal offense. She also tallied two service aces on a tough night at the service line for the Cardinals. Macy Sumrall led the team in digs with 16 followed by Clapp (8) and Kimmel (7).
 
The first two sets of the match were controlled by the Horned Frogs' offense. (25-12, 25-19) TCU's Taylor Raiola compiled 14 kills on the match.
 
In set three, the Cardinals' energy was unmatched. The connection between Sena and Kimmel started off the Cardinals' offense. Then it was all UIW. The Horned Frogs could not stop the attacks from Jackson and Clapp, the blocks from Sena and Annamarie Alvarez and the sneaky plays from Kimmel. The Cardinals went on to secure the set 25-23.
 
The Cardinals' started the fourth set off strong with a kill and ace from Clapp followed by a kill from Alvarez. UIW exchanged points with TCU before the Horned Frogs went on a 5-0 run ultimately clenching their win. (25-14)
 
"We definitely had a slow start, but we really did play our game in the third and fourth set," said Kimmel. "Our team has so much potential and its obvious especially when we challenge these big teams and take sets away from them right under their nose. When our individual talents come together like it did today it makes playing so much fun, and I can't wait to build on and grow from this match."
 
The Cardinals and Horned Frogs last match-up came in 2015 when UIW fell 3-0. Tonight's set win is the first in program history against TCU. "I enjoy playing power five schools to really show our team the physicality we need to compete with to get to the next level," said Coach Dabbs Thomas.
 
The Cardinals started the match slow but kept their energy high to secure the third set. "It was tough how we didn't start off the first two sets well, but in the third set we finally got that spark we needed and started making some big plays," said Clapp. "It was super exciting to see us compete with a 'bigger' team, but I definitely think we should have taken advantage of so many easy plays and not have so many service errors, which completely changed the game. This weekend we have a great opportunity against some really good teams to take what worked well in this match and continue to learn and grow as a team."
 
UP NEXT
The Cardinals travel to Colorado to compete in the Mile High Invitational. UIW will face the University of Iowa Friday, Sept. 17 at noon and end the day against the University of Denver at 7 p.m. The Cardinals will end the weekend on Saturday, Sept. 18 at 1 p.m. when they match up against Air Force.
 
FOLLOW ALONG   
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