The losing streak for Arizona volleyball carried over from the month of October into November after a matchup with UCF. The Wildcats (6-16, 1-10 Big 12) dropped all three sets (25-20, 25-23, 25-23) to the Knights for a second consecutive sweep and the eighth straight loss.
For head coach Charita Stubbs, seeing her team continue to put itself in a position to win and then letting it go is a recurring trend. It’s not something that can continue as the season nears the end.
“Frustrated, angry,” said Stubbs.
“We get it in the same position every time. We’re up. It’s almost like we don’t realize we’re up, even though we’re saying we’re good. We’re up, and then we roll over and give away points, and then we start being tentative, and then we miss a pass that we were passing well earlier. We miss a dig, or we miss a pursuit to a ball. It’s just like always one thing after another after an error happens. Do I think that we were not dialed in? I don’t know.”
Arizona was battling back and forth with UCF to start the set but a 3-0 run by the Knights helped to build an early lead. Then it was the Wildcats who answered with a 3-0 run of their own to take a 15-14 lead.
Then things started to get away from Arizona as UCF went on a 6-1 run to put itself in position to take the first set. A quick 3-0 run did give the Wildcats hope but the Knights still went on to take the first set 25-20.
Carlie Cisneros had five first set kills, but Arizona did not help itself with eight hitting errors. To start the second set, Hayden Reeder started in place of Destiny Ndam-Simpson. It came down to finding a hot hand as Ndam-Simpson struggled in the first set.
“Dez’s numbers, she was hitting negative 200 after the first set, and so I put Hayden in and she can pass and we can modify everything else, but her passing wasn’t good,” Stubbs said. “So I told her when I put you out there, it’s about passing.”
The Wildcats fell behind early once again in the second set after a 4-0 UCF run. Arizona still continued to fight and was able to tie the set at 12 apiece. Journey Tucker started to come on strong as she had four kills and three blocks at that point in the match.
Once again, Arizona had a 15-14 lead going into the media timeout. The Wildcats responded better this set compared to the first by building a four point 19-15 lead on UCF. However, the Knights once again found their way back into the set to tie it at 20.
After back-to-back kills by Ndam-Simpson and Kennedy Osunsanmi, UCF had to call a timeout and regather itself. Whatever was said in the huddle worked as the Knights finished the set on a 5-1 run to take the second set 25-23.
The pattern of getting down early and having to fight back continued for Arizona. However, its response was probably the best moment of the match for the UA. A 6-0 run for a 8-5 lead gave the Wildcats a much needed confidence boost.
At the media timeout, Arizona had another 15-14 lead with Osunsanmi finding her stride getting to her sixth kill of the match. However, another run by the Knights put them in position to complete the sweep.
Cisneros got up to nine kills to bring Arizona back within reach of staying alive, but UCF took care of business to hand the Wildcats their eighth straight loss. Of course, no coach likes to see their team lose but Stubbs continues to have the necessary and at times hard conversations to try and figure out how to get her team to perform better and get back in the win column.
“You continue to have it as a group,” said Stubbs. “You also have it as an individual because I am a believer that it will come to pass. Maybe not in the way we necessarily want it to, but every match that we play, every set, every point, everything is preparing for the future.”
