Arizona volleyball head coach Rita Stubbs had three goals when the Wildcats left for Las Cruces, NM on Thursday. She wanted the Wildcats to keep a perfect record, she wanted to get things done as quickly as possible, and she wanted to play a lot of players. They did all three on Friday with two three-set sweeps of Abilene Christian (25-13, 25-23, 25-9) and Texas Southern (25-16, 25-16, 25-7).
The perfect record is 8-0. It matches the Wildcats’ win total from last season when they ended 8-23. A win tomorrow against New Mexico State would put Arizona over their season total from 2023.
“I felt good anytime we can get a win,” Stubbs said. “I think it’s great. So now we’re tied with what we had overall last year. That says a lot in terms of making sure that they stay focused and not become too relaxed. And I told them that I don’t care what you think of the competition, if you’re going to be deemed a good team, you have to be good all the time. You can’t pick and choose. You can’t have zoning out. The worst thing you can do is make ourselves feel like we’re better than we are and (an opposing) team isn’t as good as they are. And so for us, the fact that we got a chance to work on that is good, and that makes me excited because those are all things that you know we’re going to be faced up against and going into the Big 12. I mean, they picked us. What? 12? Like, okay, no one thinks that we’re good. So now you can’t all of a sudden change your mind and think that you’re better than a team. You have to have started that preparation all along. So that’s what we’re preparing ourselves for, one act at a time. So everyone is a great team no matter what.”
The early match was the tougher of the two. The 9 a.m. MST start time didn’t seem to bother the Wildcats. They ran out to a 7-1 lead and kept it going throughout most of the set.
ACU started to find its feet at the end of the set, though. The Wildcats from Abilene used that momentum and started the second set strong, leading by as much as five twice in the first half of the set. The last time came at 15-10.
Arizona’s pins were not very efficient in the early part of the match. Jaelyn Hodge started out well, but she began to fade in the second set. Carlie Cisneros and Jordan Wilson had their own difficulties.
Ciseros and Wilson were able to dig themselves out of the doldrums a bit. Wilson finished with 13 kills on .357 hitting, three total blocks, one ace, and eight digs in the first match. She went for a double-double in the second match with another 13 kills to go with 10 digs. She also had two aces and two total blocks.
Cisneros had six kills on .294 hitting, one ace, 10 digs, and four total blocks in against ACU. In the second match, she came back with nine kills on .300 hitting, two assists, four aces, and six digs. She left late in the second match so Amanda DeWitt could get some time on the court.
“After the second set, I pulled Jaelyn, Carlie, and Jordan over, and I said, ‘If you’re going to be good, I’m gonna show you these numbers. These numbers aren’t good,’” Stubbs said. “Good players are good all the time. And so (Wilson) dialed in. So every now and again, she just needs that reset pushed for her as she’s learning to how to push it for herself.”
Hodge couldn’t recover in either match. She was eventually removed for Sydnie Vanek in both matches. Stubbs chalked that up to the fact that they have to limit her jumping in practices.
“When you can’t practice all the time in terms of jumping right, the timing and whatnot is always something that will be off, but she has to do a better job of modifying,” Stubbs said. “So sometimes she tries to press too hard to show that she can do it.”
It did give Vanek time to work on things, and she had some bright moments. She had three kills on seven swings (.000 hitting) and one total block in the early game. In the late match, she had three kills without an error on seven swings for a .429 hitting percentage. She added two total blocks.
“She’s the first option on the right side right now,” Stubbs said. “She went in and was confident, and she understands what is supposed to happen. And because she’s a high flyer, she will wow you at some times. For her, it’s all about the other parts of attacking. So, the off-blocking. It is making sure she stays dialed in and having another shot other than just hit.”
Arizona’s blocking helped a great deal. The Wildcats had 11 blocks against ACU. They were paced by Kiari Robey with seven, but eight different players had at least one block. They had six more blocks against TSU, led by Robey and Alayna Johnson with two total blocks each. Both middle blockers had one solo block.
The team also served relatively well, cutting down on the service errors that have plagued them in most of their matches. They notched five errors to six aces against ACU and 10 aces against 11 errors in the second.
While ACU gave Arizona a scare in the second set, UA handled Texas Southern easily. All of Arizona’s players got time in at least one match. Johnson and setter Ana Heath, both of whom started last season, got the starts in the second match over regular starters Journey Tucker and Avery Scoggins.
The competition takes a step up on Saturday against New Mexico State. The emotion could take a step up with former teammate Nicole Briggs on the other side of the net now, too.
“They’re running a 6-2,” Stubbs said. “They have Starr Williams. That’s their big, prolific player, if you will. She’s on the opposite. And then, they have Mari (Sharp), who was an outside hitter every year we played them. She’s a smaller outside hitter, but pretty dynamic. So, they’ll put the ball in her hands. They’re comfortable setting the middles. Nicole is leading the team at 1.3 blocks per set, which is huge. And she didn’t do that with us. So, she’s confident…And you know they’ll want to beat each other, and so the key is not to get caught up in their emotions. One point is not more valuable than the next point, and that’ll be the button that we have to push.”
Lead photo courtesy of Arizona Athletics