After last year’s disappointment, Arizona personnel watched the NCAA Tournament selection show with anxiousness but came away with a different feeling this season.
Eventually, the Wildcats learned that they would be going to the Big Dance for the first time since 2018.
“My gosh, I couldn't breathe,” said UA sophomore outside hitter Carlie Cisneros. “I was so nervous.”
Arizona senior outside hitter Jordan Wilson, who had previously gone to the tournament when she was at USC, was confident UA would get in but got more nervous as the show went on.
“It was really starting to feel like last year in a sense, just because I feel like they kept saying, ‘Big 12, another team from the Big 12’ and then it’d be like, ‘Kansas’ or someone else that was already called, and we just had like our fingers crossed and I was just so scared,” said UA sophomore setter Avery Scoggins. “We saw some bubble teams get in and we were like, ‘oh my, God, this is what happened last time,’ Yeah.
“When our names got called, we were like relieved for about 10 minutes and then we were like, OK, like, let's go, time to lock in.”
Arizona volleyball's Jordan Wilson (5), Avery Scoggins (6), Renee Jones (2) and Adrianna Bridges (13) vs. Cincinnati at McKale Center Nov. 28, 2025.
The tournament appearance is the 30th in school history and the first under head coach Charita Stubbs.
Arizona (16-12, 10-8 Big 12) will face No. 7 seed South Dakota State (23-4, 16-0 Summit League) on Friday in the first round at Stanford.
“I think it's a great team,"Stubbs said. "I think that they've shown that they’re a tournament team over the years, I think that winning and doing well in their conference goes a long way. I am excited to play them, just to get the opportunity to play, at the end of the day, I didn't really care who we played.
“I just wanted to get to the tournament.”
Last season, South Dakota State was one of the last teams to get in, and UA was one of the first teams to miss it.
“Full-circle moment, really full circle moment because they were one of the reasons we didn't make it last year so getting to play them this year is like, OK, everything lined up the way it was supposed to happen,” Scoggins said. “Everything happened the way it was supposed to, now it's time to take care of business, I’m excited to play them.”
No. 2 seed in the quadrant and No. 6 seed overall Stanford (27-4, 18-2 ACC) plays Utah Valley (16-10, 10-2 WAC) in the nightcap on Friday. The winners of the two matches meet on Saturday, with the winner going to the regional rounds in Austin, Texas.
UA and Utah Valley are unseeded.
Stanford won the ACC after beating Louisville last week, and Montag Family Director of Women’s Volleyball Kevin Hambly won ACC Coach of the Year.
“One match at a time is what we're thinking, so I’m not getting too far in advance, but we have to do scouting and Stanford's a great team,” Stubbs said. “Funny enough, I had just watched Stanford play Louisville in the ACC tournament and I text Kevin afterwards, congratulating him because his team grinded and battled the entire time, and that's what you expect from Stanford. That's a familiar foe in that sense and while several of the players have never been up there, they know who Stanford is.
“So it's one of those matches that’s nice, you don't have to get pumped up for it, but we have to take care of the first day in order to get to the second.”
After going to some smaller locations, the Wildcats get to go to Stanford in the San Francisco Bay Area, an easier place to get to than Stillwater, Okla. or Morgantown, W.V.
“It’s nice, I don't know if it's necessarily important, but it's super nice that we don't have to change time zones in terms of losing time,” Stubbs said. “We’ll always take some extra time for rest and sleep and recovery and things of that nature, but it's nice because we have a lot of fans on the west coast and so they'll get an opportunity to play and I've reached out to several of my teammates and they'll be there.”
Wilson shared her excitment about Stanford Tuesday during a press conference.
Arizona volleyball's Jordan Wilson against Cincinnati at McKale Center, Nov. 28, 2025.
“It’s always been a personal favorite of mine, great experience, great environment, great crowd and always great competition there,” she said.
Despite getting snubbed last year, UA isn’t without tournament experience, having hosted and won the NIVC tournament last year.
Stubbs thought that experience will help them this season.
“I think it does because it's been a while since we had been to a tournament and played longer, and so the players tend to think things differently,” Stubbs said. “In the past, they were like, ‘hey, when do we get to go home in December?’ They were asking that question when they were first coming out in the summertime.
“No one asked me that question and then I thought about it, maybe they asked (UA volleyball Director of Operations) Brooke (Paxton), but she would have told me if they asked,” she added. “So I'm going to choose to believe they did not ask that question, so that meant that they were ready for the long haul.”
This year, that long haul comes with a different feeling.
Arizona volleyball coach Charita Stubbs watches a match vs. West Virginia at McKale Center Nov. 26, 2025.
“Never wanted to feel that again,” Stubbs said about last year’s selection show. “That was the probably the hardest day as a coach.”
Big 12 honors
On Tuesday afternoon, the Big 12 announced that three Wildcats earned all-conference honors.
Wilson was first team and Cisneros and Scoggins made the second team.
It’s Wilson’s third time getting an all-conference accolade and the second time for Cisneros and Scoggins.
