Arizona freshman Carlie Cisneros was a huge reason the Wildcats’ volleyball team had its best year since 2018 last year. USA Volleyball is taking notice, naming the outside hitter to the training roster for the 2025 NORCECA U21 Pan American Cup team.
Cisneros is one of 18 athletes from around the country who will train for the tournament this summer. They will meet in Colorado Springs at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center from July 13-19. The roster will then be pared down to 12 athletes who will travel to San Jose, Costa Rica to compete from July 20-28.
USAVolleyball has announced the training roster for the U21 Pan American Cup this summer. 12 athlete will compete in Costa Rica in July. pic.twitter.com/SxUvZmzviL
— Avid (@AvidVolley) April 30, 2025
The team consists of players born in 2005 and 2006. Cisneros is one of 10 in the younger age group.
Cisneros helped stabilize the Wildcats’ serve receive game last year, an issue they had struggled with for a few years. She served as a six-rotation outside hitter, rarely if ever leaving the floor. She and libero Haven Wray were the only two players who appeared in every one of the 121 sets contested by the Wildcats in 2024.
On offense, Cisneros was third on the team with 2.54 kills and 3.10 points per set. She led the team with 0.37 service aces per set and 45 total aces. The next closest was junior outside hitter Jordan Wilson, who had 28 total aces and 0.24 aces per set.
Cisneros kept her production fairly steady both in and out of conference play. During Big 12 competition, she averaged 2.57 k/s and 3.05 p/s. Those numbers placed her behind teammates junior Wilson and fifth-year player Jaelyn Hodge. The freshman had 0.30 aces per set, which led the team.
Her efforts helped the Wildcats start the year on an 11-match winning streak and end it the same way. The second streak started with an upset of No. 8 Kansas.
The streaks produced a 24-9 record in 2024, a 16-win improvement over Arizona’s 8-23 record in 2023. The team went 9-9 in their first year of Big 12 competition after finishing 3-17 in their final season in the Pac-12.
The biggest disappointment was missing the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight season. That was soothed by taking the title in the NIVC, the secondary Division I postseason volleyball tournament.
Arizona will begin the 2025 season with an exhibition against Northern Colorado on Saturday, Aug. 23.