It’s the penultimate week of Arizona volleyball’s regular season, but things aren’t winding down. The Wildcats are in a battle for not only an NCAA Tournament berth but a possible national seed. They’re
looking even further into the future with the signing of the 2026 recruiting class. There’s still a lot to do in the 2025 regular season, though.
The 2026 recruiting class
Arizona signed a class of three for the 2026 season. Head coach Rita Stubbs and her staff got pieces from around the court with a pin, a middle blocker, and a libero. She’s excited about each member of the trio.
- Marina Vosloo, 6-foot-1 MB: “She can go behind the setter. I think that’s something we’ve missed a little bit, and we’re still working on it. We’re getting there, but at the end of the day, I want someone that is a natural middle going back there, and so she has the ability to go behind and score…I tell everyone when I’m recruiting middles, I don’t want them to look alike. I want them to be different for a reason. I think it’s hard to prepare for middles that are just different. But I think she brings a lot to the table in terms of what Journey [Tucker] does in terms of her broad shoulders. I think that’s something that is advantageous for us.”
- Hayden Reeder, 6-foot-1 OH/OPP: “Hayden does a little bit of everything…She’s…no nonsense. Does her job. You want me to do this? Okay, I’ll do it. Want me to do this? Okay, I got that, and I think that’s something that helps us out a lot. The nice thing about Hayden is that she’ll be here in January, so she’s graduating high school early. Come in, get acclimated, which we see the benefits that Carlie [Cisneros] reaped coming in early. So pretty excited about that. She’s a little bit bigger. She’s a legit 6-1. I think we will say she’s 6-2, but she’s about 6-1, and she can play on either pin, which is really nice.”
- Gigi Whann, 5-foot-8 libero: “Someone who only knows how to win, which goes back in line what we were looking for when we brought what is now the sophomore class coming in. She’ll be playing in the state finals on Saturday, which is really exciting. Club team is absolutely phenomenal. A lot of D1 prospects on that team. But she gets it. She’s a lot like Avery [Scoggins], in the sense that she’s always reaching out and saying, here are my numbers. This is what’s going on. What are you doing here? And it’s what you would want from a recruit.”
The push for the postseason
Arizona’s outlook for the NCAA Tournament has swung wildly over the past few weeks. When UA lost to Texas Tech, there was a real danger that it could tumble right off the bubble. In fact, some prognosticators had the team as one of the “next four out” in projections.
The Wildcats rebounded in a big way by going on a three-game winning streak that included two wins over ranked teams. That had them jump into the conversation of national seeds.
The NCAA seeds the top 32 teams in the tournament. The top 16 host the first two rounds. The top four host the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight, as well.
The Wildcats moved onto the 7-seed line in Charlie Creme’s bracketology on ESPN as of Nov. 12. NCAA Volleyball Bracketology had them as an 8 seed. While those don’t bring hosting rights, they theoretically give the teams an easier path to the second round.
The loss to ASU has dropped Arizona back out of a national seed, but that’s not necessarily the worst thing. One projection had them going to Nebraska as an 8 seed. Dropping out of the seeds and avoiding the Huskers wouldn’t be the worst thing.
Heading into this week’s matches at Utah and BYU, UA is in a comfortable position in RPI at No. 39. KPI is a bit more questionable, sitting at No. 48.
“We do everything that we’re capable of doing, we put ourselves in a position, and at the end of the day, it’s out of our control, because the process in terms of who they select hasn’t been consistent,” Stubbs said. “I don’t know that it’s ever been consistent. You know, one year talking to Dave [Rubio], he was like, Oh yeah, they’ll use the RPI for your favor, and then other times they’ll use it against you. And so I don’t know enough about the ins and outs of it, but I do know where we stand. I do know where we are in KPI. I don’t understand how they’re so drastically different. And maybe that’s just ranks up the weather, astronomy, something else I don’t understand in life. I’ll just run with it.”
Up Next for Arizona Volleyball
Arizona Wildcats (14-10, 8-6) @ No. 25 BYU Cougars (18-8, 6-8)
When: Wednesday, Nov. 19 at 6 p.m. MST
Where: Smith Fieldhouse in Provo, UT
Streaming: ESPN+
Stats: Arizona Live Stats
Arizona Wildcats (14-10, 8-6) @ Utah Utes (12-13, 4-10)
When: Friday, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. MST
Where: Jon M Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, UT
Streaming: ESPN+
Stats: Arizona Live Stats
Is the NIVC a possibility?
While Stubbs hasn’t said anything about it yet, the belief is that the team will not go to the NIVC this year if it doesn’t make the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats won the secondary tournament last year, but there are a variety of reasons why they might not go this year.
The first reason is cost. The Wildcats were able to avoid travel by hosting every round last year, but there are still costs involved with being in the NIVC even if you play at home. Operating McKale isn’t free, after all. The NIVC is also run by Triple Crown Sports, which is a for-profit organization, instead of the NCAA.
Stubbs had to use some of the money raised via the golf tournament and other fundraising efforts to pay for two charters during the regular season. The way the Big 12 schedules volleyball meant Arizona had two weeks when it was on the road for one match then had to be in McKale for another one less than 48 hours later. Because the Big 12 has so many schools in small cities that lack major airports, travel can be a nightmare. Without charters, Arizona would have been unable to practice for the back half of both of those weeks.
The other reason to skip the NIVC is because it doesn’t serve the same purpose as last year. Arizona had three freshmen who started last year in Carlie Cisneros, Brenna Ginder, and Avery Scoggins. The Wildcats also had a sophomore starting regularly for the first time in Journey Tucker. Getting the extra month of practice for a group of underclassmen is an important advantage of going to the NIVC. With a more experienced lineup this year, Arizona doesn’t have the same kind of need.
Avery Scoggins continues to grow
The sophomore is once again one of the top setters in the Big 12. Only three setters in the league average more than 10 assists per set. Scoggins is second among the three with 10.41 assists per set.
While there are several teams in the conference that run a 6-2, meaning two setters share the assists, Scoggins’ numbers still hold up as impressive. She is 20th in the nation this year in assists per set. As a freshman, she finished 26th with 10.48 per frame.
It’s a big deal, especially for an underclassman. The last Arizona setter to average double-digit assists in back-to-back seasons was Julia Patterson, who did it as a sophomore (2017) and a junior (2018).
It added up to Scoggins’ 2,000th assist last week against Texas Tech.
“I knew it was coming only because a couple of the other setters that are around my age, I saw like they were hitting it, and I was like, Oh, no way,” Scoggins said. “So I was just like, oh, maybe mine will come soon. But I had no idea until it was posted, and it was just kind of, I was like, ”Yes!“ But I couldn’t do without the hitters or the passers.”
It’s not an easy task to keep her numbers consistent. Arizona has used four different middles this year, with three of them having multiple starts to their names. The team has used three outside hitters, although freshman Paige Thies hasn’t had as many reps as Cisneros and Jordan Wilson. It has also used three opposites with one drastically different in stature than the other two.
“The challenge that any setter will run into is, okay, this is the right person to set because that’s who the person is versus this is the right person to set because the spot they’re in,” Stubbs said. “I think that the more she has a relationship with her teammates, the more she’s comfortable, and they’re more forgiving, and she’s more forgiving, which makes a better unit for us. But one of the things that Avery is capable of doing is put the ball in different rhythms to the different hitters, and I think that’s a pretty hard task, but she’s embraced it.”
It’s a learning process, but Scoggins is happy with the way it’s developing.
“Everything is always moving positive,” Scoggins said. “And I think that’s something that is so good about this season, is that everything is moving in a positive direction. We’re getting better as the year goes on, and I’m connecting with my hitters better.”
Assistant coach Ryan Windisch is handling most of that teaching this year. After former assistant coach Steven Duhoux returned to the men’s game in the offseason, Stubbs did not hire a third assistant. Instead, Windisch began to oversee both setters and “littles.”
“He’s helping me with when I should set what, how I’m setting, who I should set,” Scoggins said. “Ryan told me that he wants me to kind of figure it out. Obviously he’s not just gonna let me go free reign, but if there’s something that he sees that I should be doing. Rita and Ryan have said they don’t want to micromanage me, which I really appreciate, but at the same time, I don’t want to mess up, obviously. But it’s been nice to have Ryan kind of in my ear constantly giving me that feedback that I need, because I need that structure as a player, and it’s nice to have someone to look to. And I’m like, is that good? And he’ll be honest.”
On the pressure of making the tournament at Stubbs’ alma mater
Stubbs has never ducked the issue of her first unsuccessful run as a head coach at North Carolina State. Things didn’t start well in her second run, either.
The Wildcats won just eight matches in Stubbs’ first year at the helm. Her frustration was noticeable at times.
Things took a big step forward last season. Although the team fell short of its goal of getting to the tournament, the NIVC run was evidence that things were moving in the right direction. A lot of the outside criticism got quieter, although it never completely went away.
People are always loudest when things aren’t going well, so that criticism raised its head again when Arizona lost to the Red Raiders two weeks ago. It was immediately stuffed back down by the three-match winning streak that included wins over ranked TCU and ranked BYU.
Whether she knows about the outside noise or not, the rumble of her own desires are there. The pressure of doing well at her alma mater never completely goes away, and getting it back to the tournament is always on her mind.
“It’s been on my mind since last year, that Sunday,” Stubbs said. “So if I say that it’s not, then I’m not being honest. But I’m not allowing it to dictate who I am or how we actually work as a group.”
