The Arizona volleyball team’s upset win over Kansas came after some soul-searching.
Before the Wildcats (14-9, 3-9 Big 12) upset No. 8 Kansas 3-2 on Friday, they held a players-only meeting following their 3-0 home loss to Kansas State last Wednesday.
“I like the fact that we fought together as a group,” said UA head coach Charita Stubbs. “I think that the meeting that they had after our Kansas State loss, I think that they took that to heart and well, you know, just got together and dug in. And then watching the film and watching what we were doing. It was nice to see a lot of things that we would have talked about in the gym for them to feel comfortable to do it in the actual match.”
The Wildcats had lost three in a row — against No. 13 ASU, at No. 22 Utah and at No. 20 BYU — before the K-State loss.
UA beat Kansas 25-20, 21-25, 27-29, 25-20, 15-13. The Jayhawks (20-3, 11-2) had been unbeaten in Big 12 playing before losing at ASU and Arizona.
“I really just thought it was like a good team, refocus moment, nothing that we said in there was was bad,” said UA freshman setter Avery Scoggins. “Everything we said we needed to be done and we wrote it on a board. We said what we were going to do, and we did it.”
Pair of Wildcats
win Big 12 honors
Arizona outside hitter Jordan Wilson goes low to dig out a spike against North Dakota St. in the Wildcat Classic on Sept. 19, 2024.
Arizona junior outside hitter Jordan Wilson had a career-high 37 kills — 15 more than her previous personal record and tied for third all-time in school history for most kills in a match.
On Tuesday, Wilson was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week.
“Well, I’m excited for Jordan, you know, she has always been the energetic, capable player that, you know, everyone knows. You see her and she’s dynamic, she’s all around fast and she has a quick arm and she’s explosive,” Stubbs said. “So she’s fun to watch, it was nice to see her be able to put all the pieces together and score around the wheel, not just on the outside, and give herself the ability to be confident in who she is.”
Scoggins won Big 12 Rookie of the Week after she had 88 assists and averaged 11 assists/set against the Kansas schools.
Wilson and Scoggins are the first pair from the same team to win Big 12 honors in the same week this season.
Arizona setter Avery Scoggins feeds the outside hitter during the third game of the match against North Dakota St. on Sept. 19, 2024.
The only other times two Wildcats won conference Player of the Week and Freshman/Rookie of the Week at the same time were Madi Kingdon and Penina Snuka twice in 2013.
Northeast passage
Arizona plays Thursday at Cincinnati (13-10, 4-8) and then Sunday at West Virginia (8-15, 2-10).
UA will fly to Chicago and then Cincinnati. After that match, it will take the 300-mile drive to West Virginia. It’s the Wildcats’ first-ever trip to Morgantown, West Virginia.
“We decided to drive versus fly because you can’t get the direct flight from Cincinnati into Morgantown,” Stubbs said. “You can’t get the direct flight, so you have to get off a plane, on a plane and then still drive and it was just way easier since we don’t play until Sunday to be able to get that downtime and get some uninterrupted breaks.”
