Arizona volleyball will be in action this weekend hosting the Cactus Classic at its home-opener in McKale Center. The University of Arizona will go head-to-head with Eastern Kentucky, Grand Canyon University and Radford University.
The Wildcats are coming off of a 2-1 start to the season after defeating East Tennessee State, 3-1 in the LUV Invitational in Nashville, Tenn. Following the match against the Bucs, Arizona dropped its first match of the season against Lipscomb, 1-3. Arizona earned another win shortly after against Middle Tennessee, 3-0.
During the match against Eastern Tennessee, junior outside hitter Kendra Dahlke posted 17 kills and three blocks. Dahlke will be a star player this season as she already leads the team with 33 kills and 37 points.
Sophomore setter Julia Patterson posted four kills and one block to go with her 41 assists. Over the Wildcats’ first three matches, Patterson has already posted 111 assists to go with nine kills and 31 digs.
Senior middle blocker, Jade Turner, posted six kills on eight error-free swings along with four blocks against Middle Tennessee, while redshirt freshman outside hitter Elizabeth Shelton tied for the team lead with a career record of six kills, while adding two blocks.
“Right now we’re just trying to figure out who’s going to be able to do what. We’re just trying to figure out the lineup right now, but we had some people play well this weekend,” said Arizona head coach Dave Rubio according to Arizona Athletics.
Eastern Kentucky comes into the weekend with a record of 2-1. Over its first three games, Colonel senior Nikki Drost has a total 35 kills with 16 of those coming from a match against California State University Northridge.
Both GCU and Radford come into Tucson posting 3-0 records, with both teams only losing one set a piece in their respective tournaments. For GCU, freshman Claire Kovensky put up 45.5 points through the first three games, averaging 4.14 points per set. Radford senior Maddie Palmer has posted 39.5 points through the first three.
The Wildcats will take on Eastern Kentucky Friday, Sept. 1 at 12:30 p.m. following the match against Radford and Grand Canyon University. Arizona will then go face-to-face with GCU at 7 p.m.
To finish off the home-opening tournament, the Wildcats will face Radford University Saturday, Sept. 2
at 1 p.m.
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