The UC San Diego Tritons were clearly overmatched by the Arizona volleyball team for the first two sets Saturday morning. They gave the Wildcats a test in the last set of the 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-22) Arizona victory, though. The nature of the match allowed Arizona head coach Rita Stubbs to get meaningful playing time for her freshmen, but it also showed that the Wildcats can be their own worst enemies at times.
“Wanted to make that interesting just a little bit,” Stubbs joked. “I wanted to get other
people on the floor, but none of them were really doing what they needed to do to warrant being out there.”
Outside hitter Paige Thies came in late in the first set and early in the second. Middle blocker Maya Flemister started the second and third sets. Defensive specialist Shea Davis also got into the match in all three sets as part of the serve rotation, and opposite Renee Jones got in for a few points in one set.
While Stubbs felt the results were uneven, especially for Thies, it gave the group of freshmen a chance to get on the court in an arena where they don’t have the energy of supportive fans to help them. Bronco Gym was largely empty. It definitely didn’t have the 1,500 or so Wildcat fans that typically attend a nonconference match in McKale Center.
“Paige struggled in the beginning,” Stubbs said. “She made two errors right off the bat, and she looked like she was just really hesitant. That’s the nature of having not played all weekend and knowing that they’re going in. I try to tell them in advance that…my goal is to get them on the floor, but sometimes that becomes your enemy. It’s easier not to tell them and just throw them out there cold.”
Newcomer Britt Carlson also played a few points in the second set. The transfer had a good match off the bench on Thursday. She started on Friday, but Ana Heath came in to replace her early on and had a huge match of her own to keep Carlson off the court for the rest of the day.
Heath was having another impressive match on Saturday, but the nature of the competition made it important to get experience for others. She came out in the second set before re-entering in the third.
Heath still led the Wildcats with 9 kills on a match-high .571 hitting percentage. She had just one hitting error and a .643 kill percentage. She also added 3 total blocks to contribute 10.5 points.
“Ana stepped up and did a lot of great things offensively, and was able to do it two days in a row, which I think is really important for us in the dynamics of it,” Stubbs said.
Jordan Wilson had an all-around impact with a team-high 12.5 points. She had 8 kills on a .500 hitting percentage and a .571 kill percentage. She added an assist, 2 service aces, 7 digs, and 3 total blocks (2 solo). The digs tied Carlie Cisneros for the team high.
Cisneros was third on the team with 6 kills. She hit .357 and had a .429 kill percentage. She also contributed a service ace for 7 points.
Adrianna Bridges continued to be a threat both as an attacker and a blocker. The sophomore middle blocker had 5 kills on 9 swings with only a single error. She also led the match with 4 total blocks for 7 points.
To say that the Wildcats dominated the first two sets is an understatement. UCSD didn’t score in the first set until Arizona had a 6-0 lead. In the second set, the Tritons finally put a point on the board after falling behind 10-0.
In the opening set, Stubbs didn’t immediately sub when her team took its early lead. Thies was the first of the young players to enter the match, coming in with the Wildcats up 22-10 in the first. Davis entered at 23-12 to serve.
Arizona returned to its first-set starters with one exception in the second. Flemister started in place of Sydnie Vanek, who had 3 kills, 2 hitting errors, and a blocking error in the first set.
The Wildcats were just as effective with Flemister in the middle during the second set. The Wildcats went on a 10-0 run to start the second. That gave Stubbs the opportunity to put Thies back into the match at 11-1. The freshman outside hitter had settled down, getting three kills without a hitting error in the second set.
The third set started much like the first two. Arizona scored three times before UCSD put its first point on the board. The Wildcats had a six-point lead at 8-2.
That’s when the Tritons finally started to fight back. Their 5-2 run pulled them within two. Arizona pushed the lead back out to five points, but the Wildcats stalled at 12 points.
“We struggled in serve receive,” Stubbs said. “Haven struggled where…and then I think Jordan struggled, but then picked it back up. But I thought that their middle did a phenomenal job of serving. She had a very aggressive serve. And every middle that I’ve seen serve here in this tournament has been aggressive with it. It’s just something about the taller body serving the ball at an angle that is not normal.”
In addition to the serve receive issues, Stubbs agreed that teams can sometimes let up a bit when they are dominating an opponent the way Arizona did the first two sets. She wasn’t certain that’s what was going on with the Wildcats, but agreed that it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility.
“I would like to believe they don’t think like that, but I think it’s possible, and I know that I’ll never get anyone to own up, even if it were true,” Stubbs said.
UCSD used a 7-0 run to go up 14-12. It was the Tritons’ first lead of the day, and they aimed to keep it. Stubbs tried to stem the tide of points by returning to her starters. Vanek re-entered the game for Flemister at 13-12 in the third set.
The combination of players who are used to playing together and a timeout seemed to get the team back on track. The Wildcats stopped the Tritons’ run. They still had work to do if they wanted to get back in front and keep the match to a minimum three sets.
Wilson stepped to the service line and reeled off a five straight points that included two aces. The five-point run put Arizona up 20-17. The Tritons didn’t get closer than one point down the final stretch.
The Wildcats improved to 6-0 on the season. They also extended their winning streak to 17 matches, stretching back to last year. They got other less tangible benefits from their first road trip this year, as well.
“I like the fact that we’re doing a lot of good things, bonding-wise, as a team, which makes a coach feel really excited,” Stubbs said, adding that bonding was an important part of being on the road.
The Wildcats will try to build on that next week when they go back on the road to play Washington and San Diego in Seattle.
