The University of Arizona’s volleyball team regained its season momentum after a sweeping victory against Oregon State University on Friday, Sept. 30 on the road. Then immediately lost it against the University of Oregon on Saturday, Oct. 2, as the Wildcats lost in a sweep.
Against the Oregon State Beavers, Arizona won by set scores of 25-21, 25-16, and 25-22. However, against the Oregon Ducks, Arizona had nothing go their way as they lost by set scores of 25-19, 25-18, and 25-13.
Day 1 – Arizona vs.Oregon State (25-21, 25-16, 25-22)
Arizona had a back-and-forth contest against the Beavers in their first set. However, behind the excellent play of Sofia Maldonado Diaz, Zyonna Fellows and Jaelyn Hodge the Wildcats were able to retain control of set one and come out with a win.
Heading into set two, the Wildcats showed incredible pose and focus as they continued their great play. The Beavers were unable to stay with the Wildcats late, as they opened a 23-14 lead. Arizona made sure to take advantage of Oregon State’s mistakes, and Hodge continued her incredible play as she led the team to a set-two win with her five overall kills.
Set three began differently from the first two. The Beavers came out fast and opened an 8-3 lead almost instantly. The Wildcats battled back and went on a 6-0 scoring run to tie the match up at 13-13. Hodge, the leader of kills in the match, sparked the run, and from that point the Wildcats never looked back. The Beavers began to unravel, and Arizona took full advantage of this opportunity to pull away late and close out this set with a comeback win.
Day 2 – Arizona vs. University of Oregon (19-25, 18-25, 13-25)
Errors early and late by Arizona completely took them out of the first set. Arizona had nine errors alone in their first set and could not get anything going consistently. Arizona was able to keep it close against Oregon, but their sloppy play inevitably cost them the set down the stretch.
The second set was more of the same, although the Wildcats were able to keep it close for most of the set. They could never pull away from the Ducks due to their own mistakes, which Oregon capitalized off of. Oregon would win set two on a 5-0 scoring run.
Set three was by far the worst Arizona looked in their two days of games. Oregon opened the set going up 5-0 due to Arizona giving up errors and kills. Then Arizona would get on the scoreboard and cut the deficit to three at 6-9, but then Oregon exploded for a 6-0 scoring run. At this point, the Ducks never looked back as the Wildcats were simply a mess for the rest of the match.
Arizona would give up 17 errors for the match and get completely dominated across the board in every stat category.
Arizona closes out the weekend 11–4 on the season. As the Wildcats look to bounce back at home in McKale Center against USC on Friday, Oct. 7, at 7 p.m. MST.
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