The University of Arizona women’s volleyball team (6-3) lost 3-1 (25-19, 25-21, 25-17, 25-18) against University of Texas at El Paso on Sept. 16, at 6 p.m. in McKale Center. After spending the last two games on the road, the Wildcats extended their losing streak to three games after what was hoped to be their comeback game against the UTEP Miners.
Jordan Wilson led the Wildcats with 14 kills and eight digs followed by Ana Heath and Carlie Cisneros who both tallied 11 kills. Avery Scoggins totaled 41 assists, which was vital to Arizona’s offense, while also getting the highest amount of digs for Arizona, 15.
“I think as a team we’re probably going to put a lot of emphasis on staying aggressive. After every single point, you know, no matter how many back-to-back mistakes or errors people make, we don’t want to stop swinging, we still want to put our foot on the pedal,” fifth-year libero Haven Wray said.
Set 1
UTEP started strong, gaining a 4-0 lead on Arizona, but that didn’t stop the Wildcats’ momentum as they had back-to-back digs from Cisneros assisted by Scoggins, getting their first 2 kills on the board. Due to UTEP gaining a 7-point lead, Arizona had to play catch up to the Miners as it took the Wildcats a while to find their footing. Arizona started to make a comeback with a kill, followed by an ace from Heath which closed the gap to 23-17. UTEP’s middle blocker Kaya Weaver broke Arizona’s 5-0 run with a spike that gave the Miners the match point.
The Wildcats comeback in this set was unfortunately not enough as the Miners took the first set 25-19.
“We kind of have a bad habit early into the game. We make continuous mistakes, and we kind of dig ourselves into a hole,” junior middle blocker Journey Tucker said.
Set 2
Scoggins served an ace that got the Wildcats the first point on the board in this second set. The Wildcats and Miners were neck-and-neck through the beginning of the set when Wilson hit a dig that gave Arizona a 7-6 lead over UTEP. The set remained tight but Arizona continued to maintain a point lead over the Miners. Cisneros gives Arizona a 3-point lead after a kill assisted by Scoggins.
Arizona took the second set 25-21 after a serve from UTEP’s Mattie Gantt went out of bounds.
Set 3
Tucker started off the third set with a kill for Arizona, but Danika Washington blocked an Arizona spike giving the Miners the lead 3-2. Sara Pustahija served an ace that extended UTEP’s lead 14-8 over the Wildcats. After an intense rally, Arizona got the point from an out of bounds hit, but the Wildcats were still behind 17-12. Arizona started to make a comeback with a kill from Tucker, which shortened the Miner’s lead to 4 points. Arizona’s comeback came too late as the Miners had already taken the set 25-17, giving them a 2-1 set lead over the Wildcats.
Set 4
UTEP took the lead in the fourth set 2-0 but Arizona made a quick comeback to gain possession of the ball after a spike from Heath. The Wildcats started to catch up after a net violation from UTEP and an out of bounds hit which lowered the Miners lead to 5-4. A strong rally that ended with a block from Scoggins shortened the points difference between the Miners and Wildcats to 13-12. With a 5-0 scoring run for the Miners, Arizona called a timeout to catch up to the 18-12 lead from the Miners. Unfortunately, the Wildcats were too far behind the Miners and unable to catch up.
UTEP took the fourth set 25-18 after a kill by Landry Braziel with an assist from Kalia Kohler.
“Compete, play hard, be confident in yourself, do the things that are necessary to be a champion. Whether you win or lose, you still have to be a confident individual […]. Going to Nebraska we have nothing to lose, they have everything to lose,” Arizona head coach Charita Stubbs said.
Looking forward
The Wildcats head back on the road this week to take on University of Nebraska-Lincoln on Saturday, Sept. 20, at 6 p.m. in the John Cook Arena at Bob Devaney Sports Center.
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