Arizona volleyball pushes the limits to advance to championship

The Arizona volleyball team dropped its first game in a couple weeks but recovered to win its 10th straight match and advance the furthest they ever have in a postseason tournament.

On Thursday, the Wildcats beat Northern Colorado 3-1 (25-20, 27-25, 13-25, 25-18) to advance to the National Invitational Volleyball championship match.

“It feels great,” said UA head coach Charita Stubbs. “There’s still unfinished business to do and so we take it one day at time, getting ready and hoping that we’ll get a chance to host it.”

In 1977, UA finished tied for ninth at the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women tournament. In 2001, it reached the NCAA Final Four.

The Wildcats will find out Saturday where the NIVC championship match will be. They will take on the winner of the St. John’s (24-12) vs. Bowling Green (24-9) semifinal game.

Northern Colorado (28-8) snapped UA’s streak of 11 straight sets won to cut the lead to 2-1. Arizona (23-9) answered right back in winning the fourth set to close out the match.

The Bears routed the Wildcats by 12 points in the third set, but the UA responded by winning the fourth set by seven.

“I think we knew that team wasn’t going to back down at all, they’ve been to so many five sets,” said UA fifth-year outside hitter Jaelyn Hodge. “So telling ourselves that and calming things down, resetting every point and just knowing our offense, like I’ll come in when it gets hectic and I’ll be, ‘OK, (freshman setter) Avery (Scoggins), what are we running? Tell us each so it simplifies,’ and then just going out, executing, doing your job.”

This is the second double-digit win streak of the year for the Wildcats. They opened the year winning 11 in a row.

Northern Colorado started the match leading 4-1 and then 9-5, but Arizona rallied to tie it at 9-9 and then went up 19-14, going on to take the first set.

Early on, the second set was back and forth with five ties before Northern Colorado took a 13-10 lead. The Bears took control of the set going ahead 19-14, but Arizona came back to tie it at 21-21 and then won the frame with a 3-0 run even though Northern Colorado had a couple set point opportunities.

Northern Colorado struck back in the third set, leading wire to wire and by as much as 12 after closing out the set on a 7-1 run.

The Wildcats beat Northern Colorado 3-1 (19-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-21) in an exhibition on the road on Aug. 24.

“It was a long time ago, so yes, it is pretty different,” said UNC head coach Lyndsey Oates. “You know Arizona’s in a little bit different lineup than they were back in August, so I didn’t even scout that match very much, looked at more recent matches. But it’ll be fun because we’ll be back here for exhibition next fall and we’ll return and so we’ll be able to scout this match for our exhibition match in fall of ‘25.”

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After a back-and-forth start to the fourth set that featured nine ties, UA went ahead 14-13. The Wildcats would end on a 9-3 run after UNC pulled to within one to take the match.

UA junior outside hitter Jordan Wilson had 15 kills, Hodge had 13 kills and sophomore outside hitter Journey Tucker had career highs in kills, with 12, and in hitting percentage, .632.

“I really didn’t know I had 12 kills until Rita showed me the paper honestly (laughs),” Tucker said. “I did not know, I mean I was just focused on getting up and being an option.”

The Wildcats are looking at the NIVC as a chance to relaunch the program like Adia Barnes and women’s basketball did by winning the WNIT in 2018-19, then winning 24 games in 2019-20 before the NCAA Tournament was canceled and almost winning the national championship in 2021.

“Absolutely,” Stubbs said. “Every team that has to been in the NIVC, the next year they’ve made their way into a tournament because they’re expected. They know they’re hungry and most of the teams have felt like some way or another that they were left out by a mistake or on purpose, whatever case may be.

“And so it’s like trying to go out and prove a point and that’s what we’re trying to instill in the players that no matter what match or what tournament we’re in, we have to go out there and compete, that’s what women’s basketball did.”

The basketball team won the WNIT at home with ever-increasing attendance, something Stubbs hopes they have if they get to host the NIVC championship.

“So Adia set a good standard,” Stubbs said. “Now the thing that Adia did was get a lot of people in the stands and so that’s my challenge now, to get more people in the stands.”

Digs

Freshman setter Avery Scoggins won American Volleyball Coaches Association Pacific Region Freshman of the Year and fifth year outside hitter Hodge and junior outside hitter Wilson were selected All-Region Honorable Mention. Scoggins is the third Wildcat to win Region Freshman of the Year after Kim Glass in 2002 and Sofia Maldonado-Diaz in the 2020-21 season. Three region honorees is the UA’s most since 2001 when Dana Burkholder, Lisa Rutlegde and Jill Talbot were All-Region. “It’s such a great feeling,” Wilson said. “It’s showing the team we’re heading in the right direction, so I really hope Rita keeps bringing these types of players in and people who want to win, people who want to make it to the tournament and want to make the team better, as well as themselves.”

Arizona’s record in nonconference matches is 14-0. Its home record is 13-4.

Photos: Arizona takes down Northern Colorado 3-1, Fab Four NIVC