Arizona volleyball rides rollercoaster to victory over Utah

Every coach and player wants consistency. Arizona volleyball is still searching for it, but the Wildcats rode the rollercoaster of their own inconsistency to a 3-2 (23-25, 25-12, 17-25, 26-24, 15-13) victory over Utah in McKale Center on Thursday evening.

The ups and downs of the match meant that almost everyone on the team had to contribute at some point. When one Wildcat struggled, another stepped in for her. Britt Carlson took over for Ana Heath. Paige Thies took over for Jordan Wilson. Sydnie Vanek stepped up, as well.

“Great team effort, is what I told them,” said Arizona head coach Rita Stubbs. “The fact that Britt went in and played very well. Paige going in, giving Jordan a breather. The fact that Jordan stayed true to who she was and talked to Paige the entire time and was ready to go, to me that’s a sign of a team that actually understands one another. Sydnie going in in the fifth set and being up in the air ready to swing…she was dialed in. And that doesn’t happen if we have individuals worried about why they’re not doing whatever the case may be. So, I mean, that was huge.”

A quick glance at the stats shows the extreme swings in the quality of Arizona’s play. The team hit .119 and sided out just 50 percent of the time in the first set, narrowly losing the frame. The Wildcats dominated the second while hitting .452 and siding out 84 percent of the time. Things rebounded badly in the third, as the team hit a match-worse -.o32 and sided out 45 percent of the time. The ‘Cats did just enough in the fourth with a .186 hitting percentage and a side out percentage of 64. They came back strong in the final set by hitting .529 and siding out 69 percent of the time. They had just one hitting error in both the second and fifth sets.

Wilson was a prime example of the inconsistency the entire team dealt with. Arizona’s star outside hitter struggled in her last outing at Kansas, but it looked like she had shaken that off and was back on top of her game.

When Wilson reached five kills, she was hitting .833. Arizona was leading 18-13 in the first set. She had six kills in the opening set before she committed her first hitting error.

Things started to get tougher after that. Wilson finished the first set with seven kills and three hitting errors, two of which came off blocks by Utah. As she went, so did her team.

The Wildcats had every reason to believe they were going to win the opening set behind the play of Wilson. They took the first point and stayed in front. Before long, the lead was five points. Utah tied it at 12, then Arizona pushed the lead back to six with a 7-1 run. The ‘Cats hit 20 points first at 20-15, but they scored just three more times in the set.

The Wildcats’ last big run was a five point stretch that put them ahead 19-13. Utah ended the set on a 12-4 run.

Arizona responded in a huge way. While Wilson provided most of the offense in the opening set, others stepped up in the second to give the Wildcats more variety. Carlson was one of those who stepped up.

The junior hasn’t played as much as many expected when she transferred to Arizona. Senior Ana Heath has been holding down the opposite position by being an effective scorer. Stubbs said it had caused Carlson to have some doubts in herself, but the two had talked about those issues over the past few days.

“I definitely feel a lot more confident in my place on the team and what I can do,” Carlson said. “And so I think it really showed tonight on the court. And she saw me in practice, and then I was able to go out and help my team.”

Carlson got her opportunity when Heath wasn’t able to score against the Utes. The former setter’s size also puts her at a disadvantage when it comes to blocking. She had no kills and two errors on four swings, so Carlson started the second set.

“If Ana doesn’t score, then it makes it difficult,” Stubbs said. “And so Britt went out there and she blocked, and she got a couple swings along the way.”

Carlson had her second-best game as a Wildcat. She ended with seven kills on .429 hitting and three block assists for 8.5 points.

The Wildcats reached 20 points in the second set before Utah reached 10. The match was quickly evened with the 25-12 Arizona victory.

They couldn’t maintain it, though. While the score was closer in the third set, Utah was every bit as dominant as Arizona had been in set two.

Had the Wildcats maintained their quality of play in the first set, it would have been a 2-1 match in their favor at that point. Instead, their backs were against the wall and they were in danger of losing their sixth match in the last seven outings.

The fourth set was tight. Arizona started to pull away with the help of Thies, who was subbed in after Wilson’s hitting error gave Utah a 6-4 lead. Stubbs saw some of the same things from Wilson she had seen at Kansas.

“[Wilson] got blocked, and she wasn’t necessarily doing the things that we were telling her to do,” Stubbs said. “That told me that,at some point you have flashbacks of what it was, and it’s like, ‘Oh, can I do it?’ And you pause a little bit. So for me, it’s give her a breather. But Paige went in there and did so well, and there was no need to take Paige out. She held her own, which, once again, was huge as well.”

The Wildcats had a four-point lead on several occasions, then they pushed it to five points. They were up 23-18.

As they had in the first set, the ‘Cats stalled. The Utes chipped away to pull within two at 23-21. A Utah service error followed Arizona’s timeout. The Wildcats had three chances to force a fifth set.

Utah wiped away all three of Arizona’s set points, prompting Stubbs to take another timeout. Once again, the Utes came out and served out to give the Wildcats a set point. This time, UA converted.

The fifth set saw Arizona go up 6-3 only to have Utah win seven of the next nine points to take a 10-8 lead. The Wildcats regrouped well out of a timeout and tied it at 10. A 4-1 run gave them two match points. The Utes saved one, but Wilson put the second one away to give Arizona the victory.

Being off the court isn’t always the easiest thing for a top player to deal with. Wilson has spent significant parts of the past two matches doing just that, sitting out in favor of a freshman. It wasn’t a blow to her confidence.

“I really rely on my teammates and the coaches a lot,” Wilson said. “The reassurance that they give me really helps me get into the right mindset and lets me know, like, ‘Hey, I’m not in this by myself.‘ …Just knowing that I have that kind of support means so much to me, because I know that my teammates believe in me, so why shouldn’t I?”

The Wildcats improved to 8-5 overall and 2-1 in Big 12 play. They will not take the court again until Wednesday, Oct. 8 when Colorado comes to town. It will be the second of a three-match homestand after playing eight of their last nine matches away from McKale Center. In the interim, they will get three days off to rest.

“I know they’re tired,” Stubbs said. “They don’t complain, and I just give kudos to them for that, ‘I know you guys got to be tired, and you should be tired.’”