The Arizona volleyball team had its second consecutive split this weekend at McKale Center, beating the Washington State Cougars yesterday after falling to No. 4 Washington on Friday.
On Sunday the Wildcats (10-3, 2-2). beat the Cougars in three straight games, 25-13, 25-19 and 25-19.
Head coach Dave Rubio described it as a low-energy win.
“It was pretty flat on both sides,” Rubio said. “It was a good win though. All wins are equal in importance and it was good to get one today.”
As for Friday’s match, it was the best of times and the worst of times for the Wildcats.
“It was certainly a tale of two matches for us,” said Rubio after the Wildcats lost to the No. 4 Washington Huskies, 3-0 on Friday.
There was a dramatic difference between how the Wildcats played in the first half of the match than in the second half.
For the first game the Wildcats were neck and neck with the favored Huskies.
Nearing the end of the first set, the Huskies were up 22-18, but the Wildcats persevered and tied the match at 24-24.
As the Wildcat fans rose to their feet for Arizona’s game point opportunity, the No.1 freshman in the country, Washington outside hitter Krista Vansant shut the Wildcats down, and Washington came back to win the first set 27-25.
Despite the first game loss, the Wildcats came out strong for the second set. Though midway through, mentalities shifted and old habits resurfaced.
“Washington has always been a good team when they are ahead,” Rubio said. “They become more aggressive, they kind of step on the pedal and make you play for any lack of execution, and they did that. They became more aggressive with their serving and we became less aggressive with our passing.”
The Huskies went on to win the next two sets, 25-18 and 25-10.
Senior captain Courtney Karst acknowledged her team’s pattern of inconsistency.
“We need to start being more consistent throughout the game, because the people we play against are always consistent so we have to pick up our game,” Karst said. “They (Washington) were putting more pressure on us, and we couldn’t really handle it. We learned from it.”
Freshman Madison Kingdon said Arizona must learn how to react to opposing teams.
“I think once they start pushing, we need to push harder,” Kingdon said.
Both Kingdon and Karst said that had they won the first game, they very well could have won the entire match against the Huskies.
Rubio wasn’t happy with how his team played at the end, but its play in the first half of the game caught him by surprise.
“Game three was extremely disappointing,” he said. “The fact that we just kind of gave up, quit fighting them, I think we had it in us. Aside from that, for a game and a half we were really good, better than I actually ever envisioned us being.
“I certainly never want to sell us short,” he added, “but I didn’t know what we were going to get this year, because we have so many new kids. We have the chance to be a really good team, and there’s always a time in each match where times get a little rough, and you have to dig a little bit deeper and be able to execute.”
Weekend Highlights
Against Washington on Friday, freshman Madison Kingdon had her fourth double-double of the season with 13 kills and 11 digs.
Sophomore libero Candace Nicholson contributed 17 digs to the Wildcats.
Against the Cougars yesterday, senior captain Courtney Karst led the team to victory with 11 kills and two blocks.
Both Kingdon and senior Cursty Jackson had 10 kills, and freshman Chloe Mathis made 35 setting assists.
The team nabbed their second-highest hitting percentage of the season with .366. Their highest, .548, was achieved during an earlier season match against Presbyterian.
