The Arizona volleyball team went 0-for-2 in Los Angeles this weekend.
On Friday, the Wildcats lost to No. 10 USC (16-8, 9-6 Pacific 10 Conference) by set scores of 25-17, 25-19 and 25-16. They wiped their slate clean the following night to battle No. 9 UCLA (18-8, 8-7) but ended with the same 0-3 outcome with slightly different scores (25-17, 25-18, 25-22).
Other than the fact that the Wildcats (14-12, 4-10) were defeated in three straight sets by both top-10 competitors, UA head coach Dave Rubio said the team put up quite a fight Saturday.
“”The UCLA match was actually a very good match,”” Rubio said. “”We served ourselves out of each game though – that was our nemesis. We kind of became our own worst enemy in that match, and it’s unfortunate because it was a very high-level match.””
Rubio said even though his squad lost in three, it was close because there were a lot of great rallies and plays.
He said he also saw a spark in the players’ performance during the final set of the weekend that he hadn’t seen all year.
“”In (UCLA) game three, I really felt like for the first time this year we really played together and played as one,”” Rubio said. “”We just laid it on the line. I was really proud of how we played in game three; it was I think a good sign for us.””
Senior opposite hitter Randy Goodenough said the losses were due to a combination of many things, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they all made sense to her.
“”I don’t know what it was (against USC) because we scouted them for a full week, and we did a lot of film and a lot of walk-throughs,”” Goodenough said. “”We knew what we were up against, but I guess it’s a different story when you’re playing in their home gym and they’ve got the crowd, their court, their music.””
The senior said it was a combination of the apparent comfortable yet confident Women of Troy, and the number of errors made on Arizona’s side in the first set that predicted the rest of the match.
The Wildcats gathered a cumulative .098 hitting percentage, while USC hit .299.
Rubio reiterated what Goodenough said about the USC match, but followed up with a positive comparison of the following night.
The head coach said when the Wildcats are on the road and they struggle early it’s hard for them to recover, which is exactly what happened against USC. But Saturday was a different story in his eyes.
“”That was the thing I really liked about the UCLA match,”” Rubio said. “”When we were down, 0-2 in game three, you didn’t see any residual effects of that. And again, I think that was a pretty good step for us. I mean, we really fought hard. I haven’t seen us do that all year.””
Goodenough led her team against the Bruins with 13 kills (.265) and contributed seven digs. Sophomore Tiffany Owens added her own nine and nine, respectively.
Owens led the Wildcats the night before with nine kills and five digs against USC. Sophomore Stephanie snow contributed seven kills and two blocks that night, and junior libero Alanna Resch had 16 digs – half of the team’s total.
But the squad’s in-a-rut performance was irreversible. The damage was done.
The only thing to do from there was to look ahead, which is exactly what Goodenough did. She forgot about USC and turned her vision to the next night.
“”I just wanted to go out and play my best and do what I could for my team and my teammates,”” Goodenough said. “”It’s just being aggressive no matter what and taking big swings. For me it was stop thinking and start playing.””
