Arizona indoor volleyball bounced back at Oregon State to earn a weekend split in the Beaver State.
The Wildcats (16-8, 6-6 Pac-12), swept OSU (9-14, 0-12 Pac-12) late Sunday afternoon at Gill Coliseum. Arizona won 25-22, 25-17 and 25-19.
Arizona head coach Dave Rubio said he was pleased with junior Madi Kingdon’s performance during the weekend after she recorded 16 kills Sunday evening.
“Madi certainly played well both nights. The most impressive part for me was how she played tonight and put Saturday’s game behind. She looked good physically and she had good speed,” Rubio said after Sunday’s match. “It’s important for the best players to play well if we want to win conference games.”
Rubio also said he was pleased with the way the team took advantage of the short amount of time to leave Saturday’s loss against Oregon behind and be ready to take on Oregon State.
“I was pleased with our performance, and we were ready to play,” Rubio said. “It was a short day for us playing Oregon [on Saturday] night and Oregon State [on Sunday] night. We didn’t have enough time to prepare.”
Arizona had a three-match losing streak after sweeping No. 1 USC on Oct. 20 at McKale. The Wildcats dropped a Pac-12 match at Utah on Oct. 27, but were able to leave that behind with Sunday’s win.
“Losing in our conference … you never know when it’s going to come, and we can’t take anything for granted,” Rubio said.
The No. 23 Oregon Ducks defeated Arizona in a five-set match (25-23, 23-25, 23-25, 25-22, 15-12) Saturday night.
Arizona was undefeated in five-set matches for the season before falling at Oregon.
The Ducks played solid defense, holding Arizona to a .176 hitting percentage, but the Wildcats out-blocked UO 20.0 to 6.5.
Kingdon led Arizona with 20 kills, 18 digs, four blocks and three service aces.
Junior Jane Croson had a double-double with 11 kills and 17 digs for the night.
Freshman setter Penina Snuka finished with 46 assists, 10 digs and two kills for her league-leading 12th double-double of the season.
Senior Candace Nicholson had 28 digs and sophomores Olivia Magill and Halli Amaro and junior Taylor Arizobal each contributed with eight blocks to equal match-high honors.
Rubio said that it is going to be tough to prepare for the upcoming match because it will be a short week, but that the team will be ready.
The Wildcats host Washington State at McKale at 8 p.m. on Thursday.
—Follow Rose Aly Valenzuela @RoseAlyVal