After sweeping Arizona State in Tempe to kick off conference play Thursday night, Arizona volleyball remained inconsistent during the match at McKale Center losing to Washington State, 3-1.

The Cougars came into the match with a record of 11-2, sitting at 0-1 in the Pac-12 after a loss to rival Washington.

WSU started the match by taking a back-and-forth set one, 25-22. Junior outside hitter Kendra Dahlke went for five kills in the set for Arizona along with six digs, but it wasn’t enough to give the Wildcats the set.

In set two, Washington State took the lead early and never looked back, winning 25-21. The Cougars quickly held onto a 2-0 lead in the match. For WSU, junior outside hitter Taylor Mims had four kills in the set, adding to a four-kill effort for her in the first set.

In set three, Arizona erased a 17-13 deficit, and went on to win the set, 26-24. Redshirt freshman outside hitter Elizabeth Shelton had five kills in the set, including the one that gave Arizona the set point opportunity, before an attack error by the Cougars sealed the deal for the Cats.

Set four was all Washington State, as they won, 25-17, giving them the match win, 3-1. Mims capped off her 16 kill effort with the match-winning kill. Kendra Dahlke finished with 19 kills, three shy of her career high.

It was an error-filled night for the Wildcats, as they lost both sets one and two on service errors.

“We lost the match today, because of our serving and passing,” Arizona head coach Dave Rubio said after the match. “We won at ASU because of our serving and passing, 7 aces, 1 error. Here, we got aced 6 times and then we made 10 errors.”

The Wildcats will be back in action on Friday, Sept. 29, at 7 p.m. as they will look to be more consistent in passing and serving against the Stanford Cardinals. 

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