Arizona volleyball had a solid opening weekend in the Wildcat Classic, but the fans won’t see them much at home for a while. The Wildcats only have one more nonconference match in Tucson and won’t be home for more than one match in a row until Oct. 2. The long stretch on the road starts early this week, kicking off at the Boise State Classic on Thursday.
“I expect all three matches to be competitive,” said Arizona head coach Rita Stubbs. “I think that each weekend our competition gets tougher, and
that was one of the main goals that we were striving to do.”
In addition to facing host team Boise State, Arizona will play Oregon State and UC San Diego.
The long road stretch in September will be as challenging as the seven teams still on the nonconference schedule. Stubbs wants those challenges for her team.
“Part of the advantage of doing it is teaching them how to be tough and resilient,” Stubbs said. “Going through some adversity, sometimes you can’t duplicate what the Big 12 or your conference will bring, so you have to do as best you can during the pre-season.”
Stubbs set up the nonconference schedule with the intention of things getting progressively more difficult as the weeks went on. That culminates with a match at No. 1 Nebraska just before Big 12 season opens on the road at Kansas and Kansas State. In addition to the teams they play, the other part of the challenge will be the grind of travel.
“The hardest part for them will be missing school right off the bat,” Stubbs said. “You know, it’s like they’re finally getting acclimated, and so they’ll get one day of school—and that’s assuming they have class today, otherwise they miss the rest of the week. But it’s something that we’ve talked about a lot, and putting our priorities in place, and making sure we’re taking care of the little things. And we’ll study on the road and all of that, but there’s something about just being home.”
There are a lot of factors and choices that go into the final schedule. Stubbs has mentioned in the past that the idea that a coach has complete control over her scheduling is not entirely accurate. It can be hard to get into the “right” tournaments or to get teams to play in Tucson. To try to improve the schedule this year after being hurt by it last year, she had to put her team on the road for almost a solid month.
“This is going to be new to everybody,” sophomore outside hitter Carlie Cisneros said. “I mean, being gone for basically a month is definitely gonna have its challenges, but I think we’re really good at playing in different spaces, being adjusted, adjusting to our new environment, new competition. I think we’re gonna be just fine on the road.”
Up Next for Arizona Volleyball
Arizona Wildcats (3-0) vs Oregon State Beavers (0-2)
When: Thursday, Sept. 4 at 2:30 p.m. MST
Where: Bronco Gym in Boise, ID
Streaming: Mountain West Network
Stats: Arizona Live Stats
Arizona Wildcats (3-0) @ Boise State Broncos (3-0)
When: Friday, Sept. 5 at 2:30 p.m. MST
Where: Bronco Gym in Boise, ID
Streaming: Mountain West Network
Stats: Arizona Live Stats
Arizona Wildcats (3-0) vs UC San Diego Tritons (1-2)
When: Saturday, Sept. 6 at 9 a.m. MST
Where: Bronco Gym in Boise, ID
Streaming: Mountain West Network
Stats: Arizona Live Stats
Going to road tournaments means giving up the right to pick what time of day the team plays. Late in former head coach Dave Rubio’s tenure, there was at least one occasion when the coach chose not to play in a tournament because of when the host wanted to schedule the matches.
The Wildcats ended up playing at Texas against the No. 1 Longhorns and Notre Dame in 2021 because Rubio did not like the times offered by Texas State at its tournament. UA went 0-2 that weekend, although it took a set off UT and went to five against the Irish.
The Wildcats finished 16-15 in the regular season and played in the NIVC that year, missing the NCAA Tournament despite playing in a better tournament that week and defeating Stanford in Pac-12 play. Three wins at a lesser tournament instead of two losses that weekend would have put them at 19-13 with 10 matches against ranked teams. The question is whether that would have made them suitably attractive to the selection committee.
The nature of road tournaments means the Wildcats left Tucson at about 5 a.m. MST on Wednesday. They will play their first match at 2:30 p.m. MST on Thursday before another mid-afternoon match on Friday. Things wrap up at 9 a.m. MST on Saturday. While they wouldn’t have played at those times if they were home, Stubbs said that they fit into the team’s regular practice schedule, so she was fine with it.
“I’m expecting [Boise State] to play and do well, and put themselves in the position,” Stubbs said. “They pick the schedule themselves, so there’s always something behind picking the schedule.”
The players are looking forward to their first road trip and don’t seem bothered by the amount of travel they’re doing this year.
The first leg of the road trip starts with a familiar opponent. The Wildcats will face former Pac-12 foe Oregon State. It’s more than just the team that’s familiar, though. The Beavers feature Tucson native and former Wildcat Lauren Rumel.
Rumel spent her freshman season on Rubio’s final Wildcat squad, where she was listed as an outside hitter and a middle blocker. Since transferring to Oregon State after her freshman season, she has focused on playing pin and has had a strong career for the Beavers. It culminated in a selection to the USA Volleyball U23 team that took a gold medal at the 2025 NORCECA U23 Pan American Championships this summer. As a junior, she averaged 3.0 kills and 3.4 points per set.
“I see everything running through her,” Stubbs said. “So there is that comfort in knowing who she is, but she’s only gotten bigger, better, and stronger. So, we worked a lot on what she’ll do and what she brings to the table today in practice. That’s the one thing, we only get a day and a half to do it, because when you’re on the road, it looks a little bit different. And so it’s once again, just taking care of our side of the court and making sure that we’re ready to go. But it’ll be fun playing against her.”
The Beavers started the season 0-2, but they didn’t have an easy schedule for their opening weekend. They traveled to Long Beach State where they fell in straight sets to No. 6 Stanford and a Long Beach State team that just beat No. 19 UCLA. Rumel accounted for 4.1 points per set in those two matches.
Arizona will also face an opponent they played last season in the host Boise State Broncos. The Wildcats defeated Boise State 3-1 to start last season.
“Boise was a really fun game for me last year because it was one of my first games as a freshman,” Cisneros said. “And then now as a sophomore, I’m excited for the freshmen coming in or the new people on the court to experience this as well. And playing at Boise, I’ve never been, so, honestly, just excited to play in a new gym with my new team. It’s going to be fun.”
