Arizona volleyball went down in a straight-set sweep against UC Santa Barbara on Sunday, dropping an underwhelming 3-0 loss with scores of 25-22, 29-27, and 25-23. What really stings, though, is how the Wildcats coughed up a 23-20 lead and set point in the second frame, and then somehow let a 21-17 advantage vanish in the third. Talk about a gut punch when you’re trying to find your footing early in the regular season.
Coach Stubbs Pulled the Trigger on Depth, and It Almost Worked
Head coach Rita Stubbs has been talking about this team’s depth all year, and against UCSB, she absolutely leaned into it. After a rough first set and a blocking error early in the second, Stubbs did something she rarely does: she pulled Carlie Cisneros off the floor. Transfer Payton Woods made her regular season Wildcat debut, stepping into the front row. When Woods rotated to the back, freshman Gigi Whann subbed in as a defensive specialist. The move was electric, at least initially. Woods entered the match with Arizona trailing 8-4 in the second, and the Wildcats immediately went on a 5-1 run to tie it at 9-9. Woods even said, “I think it’s just what I’m doing on the sidelines before I get my chance. I’m really trying my best to be a good teammate, be loud, be energetic, but then I’m also watching my outsides, watching what shots they have open, what the offense is running on the other side. So when I went in, I knew what all the hitters were running, and I felt prepared because I had been scouting the set before.”
Stubbs wasn’t done, either. She’d already subbed out starting middle blocker Journey Tucker. Kristen Dear, who had a solid match Saturday against Tarleton State, got the call against UCSB when Arizona trailed 19-15 in the first set. Dear finished the day with two kills, two digs, and 2.0 total blocks. She wrapped up the weekend with seven kills on .313 hitting, 7.0 total blocks, including two solo, and three digs in five sets, averaging 2.5 points per set. Stubbs praised the subs, saying, “When you are without two of your starters, who did not show up, kudos to Kris and Payton for going in and making things different.” Dear came off the bench in all three matches, getting extended time for the first time on Sunday.
Stats Don’t Lie: The Wildcats Lost Their Nerve
Despite the depth moves, the numbers tell a brutal story. UCSB crushed Arizona in almost every statistical category, racking up 53 kills to Arizona’s 32 and outhitting them .256 to .131. The Gauchos also had 65 digs compared to Arizona’s 46. Honestly, the only reason Arizona even stayed in those sets was because UCSB gave away 18 points on service errors while only logging three aces. Those errors allowed Arizona to hang tough and even grab those late leads. But the Wildcats couldn’t close. They had a 23-20 lead and set point at 24-23 in the second set, only to lose 29-27. It was worse in the third. Arizona was up 21-17 and looked like they were going to force a fourth set. They won just two more points, losing the set and the match. Coach Stubbs summed it up perfectly: “I thought we got a little afraid. We were afraid to make a mistake.”
Arizona’s outside hitters have struggled to get going in all three regular season matches so far this season. If Stubbs’ team wants to turn this around, they have to find a way to finish, or this early season trend is gonna be a major problem.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
Leave a Reply