It’s all about the NCAA Tournament. Arizona volleyball won the NIVC title last year, but it’s not what they were looking for then or now.
“I feel like (the NCAA Tournament) was a goal we should have had last year, and kind of fell short,” said sophomore setter Avery Scoggins. “So this year, I definitely want to make it.”
Getting to the NCAA Tournament is the goal for everyone. Even players who weren’t at Arizona last season know the importance.
“The team, we know they came off a rough ending of last
season, not making the tournament, but still winning the NIVC,” freshman Renee Jones said after the Red-Blue game last Saturday. “So we just want to help the team as much as we can to get to the tournament.”
The point was driven home by everyone who took the podium at Arizona’s preseason local media day. For some, it’s their last chance to get to the tournament as a Wildcat. Although senior Jordan Wilson went with USC her freshman year, her two years at UA have both ended short of the goal.
“I really want us to go to the tournament,” Wilson said. “I think we can definitely make it and reach that goal. We have the people that we need in order to get us to that goal and reach and achieve it. As long as we just put in the hard work and put our minds to it, I think we have it.”
It would be a huge accomplishment for Arizona’s three players who are in their final year of college. Wilson has been to the promised land, but grad student Haven Wray and senior Ana Heath have not.
If the team can’t make it this year, Heath would be a member of the fourth straight recruiting class that never experienced the NCAA Tournament as a Wildcat. The last freshman class that got to the tournament during its time in Tucson entered the program in 2018, although a few players reached it with other teams after transferring out. Wray is the last member of the 2020 class still in college. They were the second class to complete their time in the program without experiencing the event.
Two of the biggest pieces of the puzzle will be Wilson and fellow outside hitter Carlie Cisneros. Wilson was the team’s top attacker last year on both a per-set and per-match basis. Cisneros helped anchor serve receive, which had been a big problem for Arizona in recent years. The two players have worked to add each other’s strengths to their game.
Up Next for Arizona Volleyball
Exhibition vs Northern Colorado
When: Saturday, Aug. 23 at 12 p.m. MST
Where: McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz.
“A big focus for me this season has been my serve receive game as well as my serving game,” Wilson said.
Cisneros appeared to be a far bigger offensive threat during the Red-Blue game than she was as a freshman. It’s something she highlights as an added wrinkle to her game this season that is even more important after the graduation of Jaelyn Hodge.
“Offense,” Cisneros said. “Jaeyln carried a lot of that for us, along with Jordan. It was very helpful for me, because they would often pull my block or they would help with the swings. But now that Jaelyn is gone, I have a role I need to step into this year, along with the middles and the new right sides we have, but a lot of swings need to be taken, and I feel like offensively, I’m in a better position now to take more swings than I was last year.”
She also got some extra motivation from training with U.S.A. Volleyball this offseason. When asked what she took from it, her first thought was not about game play but what those players accomplished.
“Honestly, being in the gym with a bunch of players that made to the tournament,” Cisneros said. “Very competitive. I played with them when I was younger in club, from when I was like 14 to 17. Just being able to play with them again, it was very competitive, a very high level of play, and I was able to bring what I learned there back to the gym, and it made me not only better for myself, but better for my team.”
Cisneros and her team will get the opportunity to put those experiences on the line against another team when they play an exhibition against Northern Colorado on Saturday, Aug. 23. The match will not be broadcast, but it is open to fans.
The two teams had an exhibition in Greeley last season. It was a new experience for Arizona, which historically doesn’t play an exhibition between the Red-Blue game and the regular season. The Wildcats and the Bears met again in the NIVC, with UA coming out on top in both contests.
Head coach Rita Stubbs likes the opportunity to see her players up against a real opponent. She is looking for some specific improvements over last week’s scrimmage, as well as the continued advancements some of her returners made in the offseason.
“Our right side of the block needs to be more profound,” Stubbs said. “I think that Avery set a pretty good offense. We’ll always talk about getting more swings out of the non-outside hitters wherever that goes, but being able to use and have four attackers at all times. And Avery becoming more offensive, which she did a good job. I think she was 6-0-11 or 5-0-11.”
It will be the last opportunity to fine tune before the games count. Arizona opens the regular season against Alabama State in the Wildcat Classic on Friday, Aug. 29 at 6 p.m. MST.
Lead photo by Catherine Regan / Arizona Athletics
