Starting strong is important. Maintaining early momentum might be even more important.
Arizona volleyball lost its early momentum against Iowa State on the way to its second Big 12 loss in as many matches. The Cyclones came back from a set down to win 3-1 (19-25, 25-20, 25-16, 25-10).
Arizona was honoring one of its greats on Friday night. Madi Kingdon Rishel was inducted into the volleyball Ring of Honor. The Wildcats started with an intensity that reflected the importance of the occasion and the desire
to perform well for the 2,764 fans in attendance. Then things fell apart.
“Started making a lot of attacking errors,” said Arizona head coach Rita Stubbs. “Didn’t respond well…We had six different bodies trying to do several things, all having the same desire, but just not working together.”
It was a night of errors for Arizona. Only one Wildcat hit over .211. That was middle blocker Journey Tucker, who had four kills on eight swings without an error. If there was one player who stood out, it was Tucker. She also contributed six total blocks. Four of them were solo. Her nine points were second on the team.
No one reached double-digit kills for Arizona despite playing four sets. Six players who took at least one swing hit .000 or lower. The Wildcats ended up with 26 hitting errors and only 30 kills.
Junior outside hitter Carlie Cisneros was the only Wildcat to approach 10 kills. She led the team with eight kills, but they were offset by 11 hitting errors. She added two aces and two total blocks (one solo) for 11.5 points. She also had seven digs.
The first set was tight until the teams reached a 12-12 tie. That’s when Arizona started to pull away. The Wildcats never looked truly threatened again. They had several five-point leads and ended the set with a six-point advantage.
The second set was almost a carbon copy of the first, but this time it was in Iowa State’s favor. Once again, the two teams stayed close until tied at 12. The Cyclones took the advantage from there by scoring eight of the next nine points. Arizona never recovered. Both the intense defense and the solid serve receive went off.
“In the beginning, I thought it was fine,” Stubbs said. “We were doing okay, and then once we got frustrated, we couldn’t get out of our own way. We allowed them to dictate what we did, how we did it, and force us to do things we’re not comfortable doing. And then we tried, and then we make a mistake, and then it was like started doubting, and it just becomes cyclical, which is really unfortunate.”
ISU never trailed again. Arizona got within four points midway through the third set, but it didn’t seem to bother the Cyclones. They calmly rebuilt their lead as the Wildcats stalled.
Up next for Arizona volleyball
Texas Tech Red Raiders (8-7, 0-3) @ Arizona Wildcats (5-8, 0-2)
When: Sunday, Oct. 4 @ 12 p.m. MST
Where: McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz.
Streaming: ESPN+
Stats: Arizona Live Stats
Arizona was a set away from the loss. That often inspires a team to put up a final fight. That didn’t happen.
The Wildcats quickly fell into a 7-2 deficit in the fourth, forcing Stubbs to call a timeout. It didn’t help.
The Cyclones pushed their lead to 13-2. Stubbs called another timeout and put in freshman outside hitter Hayden Reeder to see if she could get serve receive back on track.
The Wildcats responded with two points, but ISU put an end to the run fairly quickly. Before long the Cyclones were up 16-4 and the question was whether Arizona would get to 10 points in the fourth.
The Wildcats finally reached double digits at 22-10 but they didn’t score again.
Arizona will try to get its first conference win on Sunday against Texas Tech. The Red Raiders’ administration fired head coach Tony Graystone on Sept. 13 after a team member accused him of abuse, including felony battery.
Interim head coach Alisa Blair has led the team to a 2-5 record since taking over, but one of those losses included a hard-fought five-setter against the same ISU team that defeated the Wildcats fairly handily. Another was the West Virginia team that upset Arizona State last week.
“I think Alisa is doing a good job getting them going, and there’s some energy behind it, and they took…a couple teams to five,” Stubbs said. “They’re competing, and it’s exactly what you would expect them to do. So we have to. I don’t think there is a team in the conference right now…that is an easy match.”
