If their exhibition match was any indication, Arizona volleyball and its counterparts from Northern Colorado will both be adept blockers this season. The two teams combined for 21 blocks in the Wildcats’ win at McKale Center on Saturday afternoon.
Arizona won the match 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 28-26), but the teams played an additional set. The Wildcats dominated most of the fourth set, although it ended with a respectable 25-22 score.
“Everything is an adjustment,” said Arizona head coach Rita Stubbs. “I
mean, that was the exhibition game, and each match is going to call for us to do something different. And we have 17 players on a roster, and I need all 17 ready to go.”
The scoring started with an Arizona block by opposite Ana Heath and middle blocker Adrianna Bridges.
Newly minted middle blocker Sydnie Vanek excelled in the blocking game. The junior was moved from the pin to the middle this year, and she has been effective in both the Red-Blue intrasquad scrimmage and the exhibition. She had six total blocks, including two solo, against the Bears.
The dual-sport athlete, who also does long jump on the Arizona track and field team, has been using her superior athleticism to help overcome the size disadvantage she might have as a 6-foot middle.
“When Rita brought it up to me in the beginning season, when I moved to middle, she told me that I was too athletic to not be on the court, to not be doing anything,” Vanek said. “So I do think that helps.”
While they won’t go into her official stats, the two solo blocks were double what Vanek had in two years as a college pin. She had a total of 10 blocks in her freshman and sophomore seasons, just four more than she had in Saturday’s exhibition. Since she hasn’t played the position in several years, it’s something she’s been working on.
“I’d say just working on getting all the way out to my pin hitter,” Vanek said. “I think that’s been a big emphasis in practice…I was a middle when I was a lot younger, but it’s new to me moving laterally like that.”
Vanek wasn’t the only one showing new wrinkles to her game. Sophomore outside hitter Carlie Cisneros had a double-double with 11 kills and 13 digs. The digs were a team high. She added two aces and three blocks (one solo) for 15 points.
Cisneros seemed more aggressive on the attack than she was last season, including from the back row. It’s something she’s been working on because it’s what the team needs.
“Last year, my prime purpose back there was to pass and play defense and get my hitters in a position to score,” Cisneros said. “And that’s still, again, the goal, but I do need to become more offensive back there.”
The importance of her defense and passing in the back row can’t be denied. According to evollve.net’s stats for last season, Cisneros was in the 86th percentile or better in total receptions (100th), receptions turned into sets (98th), receptions turned into attacks (99th), team hitting percentage on her receptions (86th), points won on her receptions (92nd), total digs (97th), digs turned into sets (95th), and digs turned into attacks (95th).
She was pleased to hear that the aggression was noticed.
“Thank you,” Cisneros said. “That was definitely the goal. Yeah, this season, especially with Jaelyn [Hodge] being gone, there were a lot more swings that I had to help take. And I feel like in the spring, that was definitely my focus. In the summer coming into the season, just working on, repping out the swings, and just recovering fast so I can do it again the next day.”
Bridges had a balanced game with seven kills on .200 hitting and two blocks for eight points.
“I think she’s progressing along very quickly,” Stubbs said. “I think that she is a competitor, a silent competitor. She always wants to know. She’ll always kind of look at me, and I’m trying to get her to stop looking at me so much, but she wants that immediate feedback. I like what she’s able to do. Her length is top-notch, which is good.”
Heath appears to have taken the lead for the starting opposite position, but Stubbs said that it isn’t a settled situation. For now, the senior simply understands the system better than freshman Renee Jones or transfer Britt Carlson.
“She’s consistent in the gym in terms of what she’s able to do,” Stubbs said. “We’re still trying to get Britt and Renee on board in terms of being in the right spot and then putting themselves in position to get up there and score. It doesn’t happen all the time because they’re thinking so much. And so there’s…comfort in knowing what Ana is capable of doing, so you get to just breathe a little bit…There will be times we’ll need a bigger block because they’ll hit off of her or over her. There’ll be times we’ll need to run a faster ball, and she’ll be that person out there. So it’ll just vary.”
Starting libero also isn’t settled. Sophomore Brenna Ginder got the start, but she is being pushed by fifth-year defensive specialist Haven Wray. On Saturday, Wray substituted in for Heath after Heath’s serve.
“The number one thing for me is if [Ginder is] able to serve receive, she’ll be that person,” Stubbs said. “And depending on how others make a push, that will determine whether we would use two liberos. So that’s the nice thing about the rules. You can change it.”
Wilson led the team with 13 kills on .118 hitting. Her service ace and two total blocks (one solo) gave her 15.5 points. She also had an assist and six digs.
Vanek’s six blocks were the most for the team. She added six kills on .056 hitting for 10 points. She also had three digs.
The Wildcats were inconsistent, as is to be expected at this point. While Division I volleyball was allowed a bit more practice this year than in years past, there is still relatively little time to prepare compared to sports like football and basketball. They were able to pull through when they started to founder, though.
In the first set, they took a lead at 12-11. This point of a set is often when a superior team will take control and pull away. The Wildcats appeared to be doing that, but the Bears had more in them.
Arizona held the lead until 20-19. Northern Colorado pulled even and then stuck their noses in front at 21-20. Stubbs took a timeout. That was the last time the Wildcats trailed. One of Vanek’s solo blocks got the team to set point, and a UNC attack error gave UA the first set.
Arizona got things going earlier in the second set. The Wildcats went ahead by five points at 10-5 and had their largest lead at 15-9. That’s where they stalled.
Northern Colorado used a 7-1 run to tie the second set at 16-16. From there, the 9-5 advantage put Arizona up 2-0 in the match.
The Wildcats had to come from behind in the third set. They fell behind 9-5. They reeled off four straight points to tie it, but then surrendered a four-point run to the Bears.
UA kept closing the gap only to have UNC stretch it back to a four-point advantage until the Wildcats finally pulled ahead 19-18. Even that wasn’t the end of the Bears’ fight.
UNC scored three straight to take a 21-19 lead. Arizona followed with three straight, pushing the score to 22-21 in its favor. The two teams exchanged points from there until the Wildcats put together back-to-back points for a 28-26 win.
That set would have ended a regulation match. However, the teams agreed to play a fourth set in the exhibition setting.
Stubbs shook things up in the fourth set. Maya Flemister started at middle blocker for the second straight set. She was joined by opposite Britt Carlson.
The Wildcats had their most dominant start of the four sets, running out to a 13-6 lead. They let the Bears go on an 8-2 run to pull within one point, then pushed the lead back out to 19-14. UNC won 8 of the final 14 points, but they had put themselves in a hole that was too big to escape. Cisneros scored the final two points on a kill and a solo block.
The next time Arizona takes the court, the games will count. The Wildcats host the Wildcat Classic beginning on Friday, Aug. 29. Their first opponent in the three-day event is Alabama State.
