The Arizona indoor volleyball team still has a chance to finish the season on a good note.
The team stands with a 19-11, 9-9 Pac-12 Conference record after being swept by both L.A. schools, No. 8 USC and UCLA.
The road didn’t treat the Wildcats very well this season. They currently are 15-2 at home but finished 2-9 on the road. The only two conference matches Arizona was able to win on the road were on Oct. 13 against Washington State and Nov. 3 against Oregon State.
The Wildcats have two final home dates, as they hold on to a two-home match winning streak.
Arizona recorded 22 errors in the last match against UCLA. The Wildcats currently have 559 attack errors as a team, and if they want to defeat Stanford and ASU this week, they probably shouldn’t add any more.
The UA is ranked No. 24 out of 332 in RPI rankings. That’s a pretty decent spot. However, Stanford, the upcoming opponent, is ranked No. 7.
Maybe rankings don’t matter, but Stanford has the right to visit Arizona with confidence knowing it is ranked 17 spots better than the Wildcats.
Going back to the beginning of the season, Arizona’s defense held some teams pretty well. The team has recorded 398 blocking assists and 280.0 blocks in total and only 61 block errors.
Offensively, Arizona has players like sophomore Olivia Magill, who had the best offense for the Wildcats in the last match.
Junior Madi Kingdon is ranked No. 3 in the conference with an average of 4.37 kills per set. Kingdon is also ranked No. 4 with an average of 0.34 serving aces per set. She leads the Pac-12 with a total of 529.0 points.
Freshman setter Penina Snuka is the only freshman listed in the top 10 players who have contributed the most assists. She is No. 6 with a total average of 10.13 assists per set.
Head coach Dave Rubio has talked about how the team has to keep getting better before going into tournament play.
Something interesting the team should keep in mind — ASU currently has the same hitting percentage as the Wildcats for the season.
Both teams hold on to a .215 percentage. The Wildcats’ offense will have to step up and do what the coach expects to beat ASU’s offense Friday night.
Arizona leads the Pac-12 in average digs per set, with a total of 17.09.
Senior Candace Nicholson is No. 6 in the Pac-12 with a 4.31 digs per set average.
Nicholson has two opportunities left in the season to keep that spot.
The Wildcats have had a solid season overall, but the concern now is tournament play. If Arizona beats Stanford and ASU this week, it will put the team in a good mindset for when tournament play begins.
The NCAA tournament selection show is on Sunday. The Wildcats missed the big dance last year.
— Follow Rose Aly Valenzuela @RoseAlyVal
