When Arizona volleyball head coach Rita Stubbs put together a tougher schedule last year, she thought there would be more nonconference losses. A four-match losing streak with losses to Washington, San Diego, UTEP, and Nebraska was the result. The Wildcats still made their first NCAA Tournament since 2018.
They upped the nonconference challenge this year with a top 20 nonconference schedule. A 3-1 (25-21, 20-25, 25-20, 25-23) loss to USC has them on a five-match skid. Like last year, they hope it’s
just a chance to grow and prepare for Big 12 play.
“You’re looking at growing,” Stubbs said. “It’s like winning is contagious. It’s like losing is contagious. So the goal for us is just keep fighting the entire time, which I thought we responded well today. We followed the game plan.”
Preparation for the Big 12 isn’t the only thing the Wildcats got out of the experience. Outside hitter Carlie Cisneros had her best all-around match of the season with 10 kills and two total blocks for 11 points. Her 12 digs gave her a double-double. Her .242 hitting percentage was the highest of Arizona’s four pin hitters and her highest this season.
“Her former teammate was on USC,“ Stubbs said. ”So when I say I knew it was gonna happen, I knew it was gonna happen.“
Fellow outside hitter Destiney Ndam-Simpson came out strong, as well. The pair was critical in getting Arizona out to a .424 hitting percentage in the opening set. They followed it with .267 efficiency in the second.
Ndam-Simpson led the team with 13 kills, although her hitting percentage eventually dropped to .154 after hovering well above .300 for the first half of the match. She narrowly missed a double-double with nine digs. She also had one block assist for 13.5 points. She was targeted a team-high 27 times by the USC servers, adding to her work load.
The team as a whole began to struggle with efficiency as things wore on. In the third set, their hitting percentage dropped to .119. By the fourth, they had nine errors to go with nine kills for a .000 efficiency. They only had 10 errors total through the first three sets.
The first set was high quality volleyball from both teams, but USC limited the unforced errors. The Trojans weren’t quite as terminal as Arizona was in the opening set, but they didn’t give away as many points with service errors and miscommunications.
“We were stringing our errors too close together,” Stubbs said.
The goal this season has been to have variety in the offense instead of relying on one player to carry an outsized load. The outsides led in both kills and attempts, but Kennedy Osunsanmi’s work on the right side also had a big impact. She contributed 10 kills and three total blocks for 11.5 points and added three digs.
Like Ndam-Simpson, Osunsanmi’s had some struggles with efficiency. Stubbs has said that those are the two players who have the most impact when the team is out of system, but she didn’t think being out of system affected Osunsanmi’s efficiency in this match.
“It was when she was in system when she was trying to run on a block,” Stubbs said. “She had two balls…where she was set and she tried to go off the block. All she had to do was hit the ball straight ahead. So you know, it’s like you see it, and you got to go after. One of the things you can’t do is just pack the ball back to the other side because they’ll just run it back down your throat.”
Up next for Arizona volleyball
Arizona Wildcats (2-5) vs Oregon State Beavers (4-3)
When: Saturday, Sept. 12 @ 3 p.m. MST
Where: Galen Center in Los Angeles, Calif.
Streaming: B1G+
Stats: Arizona Live Stats
While the middles only received 14 combined sets all match, they were both effective when they got chances. Kristen Dear was especially big on offense, getting six kills on eight swings without an error. She combined that with four blocks. Journey Tucker had two kills on .333 hitting and three total blocks.
“The middles, you know, one of the things is in the stats, it never will give you the true indication of what they did,” Stubbs said. “The middles were all over them. You don’t see that in the stats, but every time that the outside hitter had a one-on-one block, it’s because of the middle.”
USC built several three-point leads early in the opening set, but Arizona kept reeling the Trojans back in. The ability to come all the way back stalled at 10-10 in the set. The Trojans went up by as many as six points several times late in the frame. The Wildcats got that down to four points towards the end. Five service errors, three receiving errors, and a setting error kept them from getting any closer.
According to the stats, Arizona had a letdown in the second set. Fortunately for them, the letdown on the other side of the net was even bigger.
The Wildcats had five fewer kills in set two than they did in the opener. Their hitting percentage dropped from .424 to .267. They had two fewer digs. Yet, they won fairly comfortably.
Improvements in serving and blocking made the difference. Arizona served four aces against three service errors in the second set. It had four total blocks, up from one in the opener.
On the other side of the net, USC had just 10 kills, its lowest for the match. Those were offset by six hitting errors. The Trojans continued to pressure UA with their serve, but the Wildcats were able to match it in the second set.
The final tie in the second came at 12-12. Arizona’s 10-2 run stretched the lead to eight, its largest of the match.
The last two sets proceeded in similar fashions. USC led early. Arizona pushed back, then the Trojans recovered and closed it out. The Wildcats made it especially interesting in the fourth when they cut the lead to one at 24-23, but USC converted on the second match point.
“It’s hard for us to sustain it,” Stubbs said. “They were digging some balls, and so then you get frustrated. One of the things as an attacker, when you go up and you pick your attack line and you go after it, you expect to score. But if they get it up, it was like, oh crap! Now I got to do something different. That’s part of our youthfulness and just expecting teams to make a change.”
The goal now is to put an end to the losing streak when the team takes the floor against Oregon State tomorrow. Stubbs is relying on the words of former Arizona head coach Dave Rubio to get that done.
“None of this matters if we don’t come out playing hard tomorrow,” Stubbs said. “That’s going to be my statement. We got to let it go and move on. Dave used to say all the time, ‘You got to have a big ego and a short memory.’”
