It’s been a long time since the Arizona Wildcats won a volleyball match. Their last victim was Texas Tech on Oct. 4. The nine-match losing streak came to an end when the Red Raiders showed up on the roster for the second time Sunday morning.
It was a battle for the Wildcats, but freshman middle blocker Marina Vosloo helped turn the tide. The rookie had a career day with 14 kills on .571 hitting and seven total blocks. Her previous highs were six kills and five blocks. She also had an ace for a career high 18.5
points.
“Marina was absolutely amazing as an attacker and overall player,” said Arizona head coach Rita Stubbs. “She even had an ace. It was nice that we were able to connect behind the setter today.”
Vosloo did not start the match. She came in for sophomore Kristen Dear in the first set. The shuffling of players has been a feature of this season as Stubbs tries to finds things that work. It worked on Sunday in Lubbock.
The middle blocker position was effective for the Wildcats all match. Senior Journey Tucker, who had nine blocks in Arizona’s last match, finished with five kills on .364 hitting. She added six total blocks with one solo block included in that number.
Setter Harmony Sample had one of her stronger matches in the front row since taking over as the lone setter for Arizona. She finished with 41 assists, nine digs, six total blocks, and two kills on .286 hitting. The production as an attacker and blocker are still developing for the fifth year player after she spent her career playing in a 6-2 offense.
As a team, Arizona continued to struggle with efficiency. None of the four pin hitters who got on the floor hit better than .185. Despite the efficiency issues, Kennedy Osunsanmi was effective as a scorer. The Wildcats’ starting opposite was the other player to get double-digit kills with 11. She had two total blocks for 12 points.
Destiney Ndam-Simpson narrowly missed a double-double with nine kills and 19 digs. She added three total blocks, including a solo block, for 11 points.
Fellow outside hitter Carlie Cisneros also got close to a double-double with eight kills and 10 digs. She added two aces and one block for 10.5 points.
As is expected between two teams who came in with one conference win between them, it was a back-and-forth affair. Texas Tech pushed the lead to five on several occasions in the opening set, but Arizona kept coming back to cut it to one. The Wildcats stalled at 20-18. They won just one more point in the set.
Arizona bounced back early in the second set and looked to be cruising when the score reached 21-14. As they have so often this season, that’s when the Wildcats seemed to let go of the rope and started making errors. Two calls of in the net. Three straight hitting errors. It all resulted in a 23-22 Texas Tech lead.
The Wildcats fought back. Renee Jones came in on the right side. She had two kills. Vosloo had a kill. Cisneros had two. They escaped with a 27-25 set to even the match.
It seemed to energize the Wildcats. They ran out to a 16-7 lead in the third set. The Red Raiders got within three at 16-13, but they only scored three more points in the set. Arizona needed one more to end the losing streak.
It didn’t come easy. TTU was up by six at 14-8, but Arizona went on a 6-0 run to tie the fourth.
Two kills by Vosloo and two aces by Maria Olga ’Mo’ Siapani had the ‘Cats leading 18-15. They never trailed again.
“We went in and competed as a group,” Stubbs said. “Got some good help from the bench. Renee going in making a difference. Marina going in making a difference. Mo did a great job of serving.”
The Wildcats get a week off to prepare for their next match. No. 9 Arizona State comes to Tucson on Sunday, Nov. 15. Arizona lost to the Sun Devils 3-1 in Tempe last month.
