Arizona volleyball once again had its most success blocking, but it wasn’t enough for the Wildcats. They fell to Utah 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-18) in an early afternoon match on Friday.
Arizona had 10 total blocks. Journey Tucker led the way with nine. Two of her blocks were solo. She added four kills for 9.5 points and hit .375.
“I take a lot of pride in it,” Tucker said about her blocking. “Really, my mindset is just closing to my pin and just making sure my hands are in the right spot, just so behind
me can defend the ball…I learn something new every day.”
Arizona head coach Rita Stubbs had a great deal of praise for her senior middle blocker, who ended the day eighth in the Big 12 in blocks per set.
“She’s walking in her strength,” Stubbs said. “You know, being in the right spot, getting her hands over the net, and she takes pride but not in a prideful way. That’s something she knows she’s capable of doing, so she goes out with the best intentions every time.”
The Wildcats had a good crowd despite the noon start time. Students from Tucson Unified School District high schools were on campus for a “takeover” that included tours and athletic events. They were given free entry into the volleyball match and football game.
The support couldn’t lift the Wildcats to victory, but outside hitter Destiny Ndam-Simpson had one of her strongest matches of conference play. Ndam-Simpson already had 11 kills on .346 hitting to go with six digs and two total blocks with Utah leading 21-19 in the second set.
Arizona’s leader in kills per set and total kills couldn’t sustain that in the final set, but she wasn’t the only one.
“We stopped going up trying to score,” Stubbs said. “I think that passing got kind of a little bit [off], and so then we got tentative in the attacking area because, we were talking about it in the locker room, we went from 14 kills in the first set to 11 kills in the second set to 9 kills in the third set.”
Ndam-Simpson said aggression is something the pins are working on with assistant coach Ryan Ammerman. They’re trying to overcome the timidity that sometimes keeps them from scoring.
“It’s been something that we’ve been watching a lot of film about with Ammo, just because I need to be trusting more that what I can do is good enough to score and for the last couple matches, I’ve been really wrapped up in trying to hit this perfect spot, this perfect shot because other teams are playing different defenses,” Ndam-Simpson said. “But I’ve been working on trusting a lot more that my swing is good enough, and just being aggressive. It’s okay to take a swing and those types of errors are okay. Whereas, if you’re being timid, those are the errors that you kind of don’t want to see.”
That balance was there for part of the match but waned as things wore on.
“I didn’t feel like we weren’t competing today, but I don’t think we were as aggressive as we should have been,” Stubbs said. “But in hindsight, we’ve been overly [aggressive], and nothing good has come from it. So it’s getting over the hump. I think we made baby steps today in the right direction.”
Ndam-Simpson ended the match with a double-double of 12 kills and 12 digs, but her hitting percentage dropped to .195 for the match. She also had an assist and two total blocks. She led the team with 13 points.
Fellow outside hitter Carlie Cisneros was second on the team with 10.5 points. She had nine kills on .240 hitting to go with seven digs. She also had three total blocks.
Stubbs also used backup setter Maria Olga Siapani as a defensive specialist due to the injury to L/DS Brenna Ginder. The head coach said that Siapani is able to hold down right back. She also has the skill to take the second ball if starting setter Harmony Sample has to take the first. Siapani played in all three sets with one assist, one ace, and six digs.
Utah led wire-to-wire in the opening set. The Utes went up by as many as seven at 14-7. The Wildcats made a run late in the set to cut the lead to one at 21-20 and 22-21, but Utah scored the final three points to go up 1-0.
Arizona took its first lead to start the second set and went up by three at 11-8. Utah came back to tie it at 11 and never trailed again. The final tie was 15-15, and the Wildcats got within one twice late in the set, but the Utes finished it out 25-22.
Arizona’s only lead in the third was at 3-2. The final tie was 5-5. The teams stayed relatively close until they reached 18-17 with Utah leading. The Utes won seven of the final eight points for the most lopsided win in the match.
The match was held so early because Arizona has to be in Lubbock, Tex. for an 11 a.m. MST match against Texas Tech on Sunday morning. The team will fly out on a commercial flight just after 5 a.m. on Saturday morning.
“I tell them, ‘It is what it is,’” Stubbs said earlier in the week.
The Wildcats swept Texas Tech a month ago for their only conference win. That doesn’t mean anything to the players who are still trying to prove something to themselves. They look at the 14 sets they’ve lost during this streak despite breaking the 20-point mark and see that they’re close. They want to do what they can to improve for the future.
“Right now it’s just building momentum and trying to continue to uphold our standards because you know obviously things aren’t going the way we want, but at this point, it’s about chipping away at the teams that we have left and seeing what we can do because we are good enough to compete at a high level,” Ndam-Simpson said. “I mean, every single set we played, we’ve been above 20. So finding ways to close sets and then also knowing that we are a solid volleyball team and continuing to build that through the end of season and into the spring and into next fall. Just having a solid foundation that you ended on…We don’t want to have anything to hang our heads about.”
