It was 9 a.m. in Tucson when Arizona volleyball took the floor at Cincinnati, but the slow start had nothing to do with that. It’s been a challenge for the Wildcats all season. It cost them a winnable match on Sunday morning.
The Bearcats used a dominant opening set and a strong finish to take a 3-2 (25-16, 19-25, 21-25, 27-25, 15-11) victory over Arizona. It was the Wildcats’ sixth straight loss.
Many of Arizona’s losses in conference play can be explained by the fact that their conference schedule
was front loaded with several ranked teams and road matches. This was a road match, but like Friday’s contest at West Virginia, it was one of the more winnable ones on the schedule.
The match was competitive for most of it, but familiar foes showed their faces in key moments.
“We had our chances,” said Arizona head coach Rita Stubbs. “Started out slow. Played tentative when it mattered.”
As with several other matches this season, Arizona was down by four in the opening set before it found some footing. The Wildcats fought back only to have the set quickly get out of control again. The lead was seven at 20-13.
Stubbs was pleased that they didn’t let that send them into a spiral. The next three sets were highly competitive. Arizona dominated with its block and the outside hitters began to find the floor. The Wildcats even had match points in the fourth set, but that’s when the tentativeness cropped up again.
Arizona woke up in the second set. It was close until 13-13, then the Wildcats started to pull away. An 8-1 run gave them a 21-14 lead. They closed it out with a kill by middle blocker Journey Tucker.
The third set got too close for comfort for the Wildcats. They had a five-point advantage at 19-14 then the Bearcats started the comeback. The set was tied at 20-all. Arizona responded by winning five of the final six points to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
The Wildcats just needed one more set, but they didn’t start well in the fourth set. Cincinnati was ahead 8-2 before Arizona shook it off. Things were all even at 10 points apiece.
The Bearcats went up 15-11 only to have Arizona reel them back in for a 16-16 tie. It went back and forth until the Wildcats earned a two-point advantage at 20-18. They had match points at 24-22, but Cincinnati won five of the final six points to even the match at two sets each.
Falling behind 4-1 can be overcome in a full set. In the 15-point fifth set, it’s a much bigger obstacle. Once again, Arizona fell into a hole out of the gate. Cincinnati led wire-to-wire in the final set to win the match.
As she has all season, Stubbs used a lot of players trying to get things going. There are 17 on the roster. She played 14.
The Wildcats were led by Destiny Ndam-Simpson with season highs in kills (19) and digs (19). She was one of three players with a double-double. She also had two aces and three total blocks for a season high 23 points.
Carlie Cisneros also had a double-double with 13 kills and 16 digs. She added two aces and three total blocks for 16.5 points.
The third double-double came from setter Harmony Sample with 44 assists and 18 digs. She had three kills and four total blocks for five points.
Tucker had her second strong offensive showing in a row with eight kills on .318 hitting. She also led an Arizona block that ended with 16 total team blocks. Eight of those were by Tucker.
Arizona dominated Cincinnati in blocking 16 to 5, but every other stat went the Bearcats’ way. They had 74 kills on .200 hitting compared to Arizona’s 55 on .179 hitting. UC had 10 aces to the Wildcats’ six. The Bearcats also won digs 110-88.
