Arizona volleyball drops 3-setter to No. 8 TCU
· Yahoo Sports
When a volleyball team gets outhit, outblocked, and outdug, it’s not a surprise to lose in straight sets in less than 90 minutes. The Arizona Wildcats had that experience against No. 8 TCU in Fort Worth, Tex. on Friday afternoon. The Horned Frogs kept their conference record perfect in a 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-20) victory.
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If there’s a silver lining for the Wildcats, it’s that they came back and were competitive in the final two sets after a slow start. The Horned Frogs had a very easy first set victory, but Arizona pushed them after that.
Wildcats head coach Rita Stubbs was creative with her personnel, as she has often been this year. It helped the team compete, but it wasn’t enough to pull off an upset that’s desperately needed.
Stubbs subbed in freshman outside hitter Hayden Reeder for Destiny Ndam-Simpson fairly early in the match. That helped stabilize serve receive. She also put in senior opposite Britt Carlson, who started the season with an injury. Carlson made her first appearance of the year last week, but she got more play this time around.
When Carlson entered the match, Stubbs also made a change in which opposite and setter were paired together in the Wildcats’ 6-2 system. She typically starts with Maria Olga Siapani at setter and Kennedy Osunsanmi on the right side. Harmony Sample comes in to set with Renee Jones at opposite when Siapani is ready to rotate to the front row.
Beginning in the second set, it was Osunsanmi and Sample on the court to start things off. Siapani and Carlson subbed in later.
The changes helped Arizona’s offense. After getting just eight kills against six errors in the first set, the Wildcats had 14 kills in the second and 13 in the third. It cut a seven-kill disadvantage in the first set to just one in the second and none in the third.
The loss in the first set was quickly put behind them. Arizona had fallen into a 4-0 deficit in the first set. In the second, the Wildcats were the ones out to a 4-1 lead. When the lead grew to 11-7, TCU head coach Jason Williams called time.
His team responded. TCU put together a 5-1 run to tie the set at 12. Its first lead came at 13-12.
Arizona didn’t surrender but it couldn’t take the advantage again. The final tie in the second was at 23 points apiece. TCU grabbed the next two points to go up 2-0 in the match.
The Wildcats got another slow start in the final set, falling behind 4-1. Once again, they fought back. TCU could never out more than three points between the two teams, and Arizona eventually tied it at 17-17. That was the last stand for the visitors, who fell to 6-9 overall and 1-3 in the Big 12.
The Wildcats were led by Carlson with seven kills on .316 hitting. Her two total blocks gave her eight points. She also had an assist.
Carlie Cisneros was second on the team in points with seven. She earned them on five kills, one ace, and two total blocks.
Arizona has another challenging match on Sunday. They were set to travel to Waco, Tex. after the game against TCU. They will practice at Baylor on Saturday then face the Bears at noon MST on Sunday.
Baylor has an RPI of 20 and is receiving votes in the AVCA poll. Arizona is searching for a big upset to help its RPI of 137. Based on the unofficial RPI that was used earlier in the year, the Wildcats have climbed about 60 spots since conference play started despite losing three of four. It is still searching for a win against a top 50 team and is 2-7 against teams in the top 100.