The Arizona Wildcats are finally home for three matches. It’s the first time since the beginning of the season when they hosted the Wildcat Classic. They had an arena full of school kids for the noon start. None of it mattered.
Arizona (6-15, 1-9) fell to Houston (13-8, 6-4) in straight sets. The Cougars won 25-23, 27-25, 25-19. The first two sets were close, but except for a period in the middle of set two, it never truly felt like the Wildcats were in control.
“We started off slow, which unfortunately
happens, but then we kind of battled back and were there,” said Arizona head coach Rita Stubbs. “Second set, it was all on us the entire time, and then we let go of the rope, and then it was hard getting back into everything and being a unit…And so we got frustrated with one another out there.”
After the match, the coaches and players stayed in the locker room for almost an hour. That feeling of being a unit was a topic of conversation.
“In the locker room? Yes, that’s what we were doing,” Stubbs said when asked if the team was talking through that frustration.
Houston started pulling away fairly early in the opening set. The Cougars took an 18-11 lead on the back of a 9-2 run. The Wildcats used their own 8-3 run to cut the lead to two, but that’s as close as they would get. Houston earned two set points at 24-22 and converted on the second one.
The Wildcats appeared to be on their way to evening the match when they reached 17-12 in the second set, but the Cougars slowly cut into that lead. The set was tied at 19-19.
The Cougars earned three set points at 24-21, but Arizona fought back. A kill by Destiny Ndam-Simpson and two hitting errors by Houston had the teams knotted at 24.
Arizona had three set points of their own, but the Cougars saved each one. Two straight kills by Houston hitter Noemi Despaigne put the visitors up 2-0.
The Wildcats didn’t respond in the deciding set. They quickly fell behind 3-0. The final tie came at 11-11.
“That was probably the most physical team we’ve played all season long, and even then we had our chances,” Stubbs said.
All of Arizona’s attackers struggled to score. The three pins had seven kills each. The highest efficiency in that group came from Kennedy Osunsanmi, who hit .200. She led the team with 8.5 points.
What success Arizona had once again came from its blocking. The Wildcats had 7.0 total blocks, all of which came in the first two sets. Houston also threw in 12 service errors to aid the Wildcats’ scoring.
Journey Tucker led the way in blocking with five total blocks. She added three kills for 5.5 points. After two straight matches of improved hitting efficiency, Tucker once again struggled in that area with -.067 hitting.
That was a fairly common problem for the Wildcats, who hit .091 as a team. The only attacker with more than one kill to reach a .300 hitting percentage was freshman middle blocker Marina Vosloo.
Vosloo had a solid match with four kills and two total blocks. One of her blocks was solo. She matched the 5.5 points contributed by her fellow middle blocker.
Defensive specialist Brenna Ginder was knocked out of the match in the first set. She held ice on her face as she sat on the bench for the rest of the match.
“She got [hit] with an elbow,” Stubbs said. “She said she’s feeling fine, so yeah, we’ll see.”
With eight matches to go, Arizona is guaranteed to finish below .500 this season. The best the Wildcats can finish is 14-15. That would require multiple big upsets. At this point, every win on the schedule could be considered an upset. It’s a big step back for the Wildcats after they won the NIVC two years ago and got back to the NCAA Tournament last year.
