Three set losses can sometimes be close. That was not the case in San Diego’s 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-11) victory over Arizona volleyball on Thursday evening.
“No words right now,” said Arizona head coach Rita Stubbs. “We did not fight the opponents. We fought ourselves.”
One of the most obvious examples of that came late in the third set. Right side Kennedy Osunsanmi and libero Brenna Ginder were both in place to play a ball. It should have gone to Ginder, but due to either lack of communication or
misjudgment, Osunsanmi reached out at the last second and to play the ball. It went spraying out of bounds for another point for the Toreros. The lead was 22-9.
That definitely wasn’t the play that broke the camel’s back. Those started much earlier and went on all match.
Nothing went well for Arizona. San Diego had almost twice as many kills at 49-25. The Toreros hit .457 for the match while the Wildcats finished at .097. The home team had 52 digs to Arizona’s 32, a problem that continues to crop up this season for the Wildcats. San Diego also out-blocked Arizona 6-4. In a game where a team should side out about 60 percent of the time, Arizona ended up at 43.8 percent while USD was a superb 72.3 percent.
Up next for Arizona volleyball
Arizona Wildcats (3-6) @ San Diego State Aztecs (5-3)
When: Friday, Sept. 17 @ 6 p.m. MST
Where: Peterson Gym in San Diego, Calif.
Streaming: Pac-12 YouTube
Stats: San Diego State Live Stats
No one had a spectacular night for the Wildcats, but opposite Renee Jones was the only player for Arizona whose performance stood out. She led the team with seven kills on .462 hitting despite being set the least out of the four pins who typically play. She was the only Wildcat to hit over .250.
Carlie Cisneros also tried to hold down the fort as most of her team struggled. She finished with six kills on .200 hitting. She also had six digs. Both the digs and kills tied for second on the team. She was served a team-high 23 times without a reception error. Considering the array of things she is asked to do, it was a solid showing for the junior outside hitter.
There were flashes of good things from reserve middle blocker Maya Flemister, too. Flemister came in during the second set and had two block assists. That was a quarter of Arizona’s total block assists for the match.
As a team, though, it was an especially difficult night. While they had as many aces and far fewer service errors as San Diego, Arizona decidedly lost the serve and pass game. The Wildcats spent much of the night out of system as passes didn’t go where they needed to be or the setter had to take the first ball while everyone else scrambled.
Stubbs subbed liberally. She used four outside hitters, four middle blockers, two liberos, and a defensive specialist. She could never find the right combination to bother the Toreros.
The loss assured that Arizona will finish below .500 in nonconference play. The Wildcats are 3-6 with two more out-of-conference matches to go. Like six of their nine matches so far, those two are on the road.
