More than a year after the coronavirus pandemic shut down sports nationwide, Dave Rubio sees things slowly getting back to normal.
The UA volleyball coach’s camps are scheduled to start in June. Last summer’s camps were canceled after COVID-19 cases spiked in Arizona. The camps, featuring hundreds of kids, are among his favorite events.
“I think it’s a great connection to our community,” Rubio said. “… You’re trying to cultivate the sport at the grassroots level. And then we have more of our league camps and having the opportunity to for younger classes, being able to work with them and see kind of where they fall in our recruiting board. Those things I really enjoy.”
In addition, in-person recruiting starts June 4 after more than 14 months of only Zoom meetings and phone calls. Coaches have not been allowed to make home visits, watch athletes play in-person or invite them to campus.
“Every coach in volleyball is anxiously awaiting those dates,” he said. “We haven’t seen our ’21 kids play or for those who have ’22 kids committed or looking to recruit ’22 class. The class of ’22 is kind of the lost class, right? All those kids are going to be juniors, going to be rising seniors and typically for us we’re at least a year ahead. Fortunately for us, we don’t have a lot of kids of recruiting in that class. It’s not as bad for if you’re a program that’s looking to bring in three or four kids in that class. It’s really been a rough year for them.”
Rubio’s Class of 2021 includes four players: Ava Francis, Jennifer Wrobicky, Alayna Johnson and Ava Tortorello. The Wildcats have also added a graduate transfer from Michigan State, Elena Shklyar. The Wildcats will now have three setters — Emery Herman, Tortorello and Shklyar — in a system that relies heavily on the position.
The Class of 2022 has three members so far: Ana Heath, Haven Wray and Madison Ellman.
The summer scramble is nothing new. In a typical year, June through the end of July is the busiest time for volleyball coaches.
“Because you are trying to recruit and then you’re trying to make extra money for your staff and for yourself by hosting the camps,” Rubio explained. “Were fortunate; I feel blessed that we’re able to host camps. A lot of schools in our conference and around the country still aren’t in a position where they’re allowing camps to be on campus.”
Looking back
The Wildcats finished in the top half of the Pac-12 Conference during their spring volleyball season. The young team showed “steady progression,” Rubio said.
Arizona started at the bottom, getting swept by preseason Pac-12 favorite Utah.
“We really took it on the chin. There were a lot of things were going through my mind after that weekend — not all of them were good thoughts,” Rubio said. “But I think as all coaches do, you assess where you’re at as a team, make a plan and have a vision for where you need to go. (You) try to impart that vision on your team and try to get your team to buy into it. Fortunately, we had such really good leadership by Paige (Whipple), and she helped guide the team off the floor when the coaches weren’t around, and her and Kamaile (Hiapo) both did a great job.”
The Wildcats hit their stride towards the end of the season, but failed to make the NCAA Tournament.
“We just ran out of time, and just couldn’t put enough wins together to be considered for the 48 teams, we felt like we were pretty close. But I felt like we just didn’t have enough wins to be able to do that,” Rubio said. “It was a nice way for us to finish. And I think the future looks good.”
Big shoes to fill
Whipple has opted not to take advantage of the extra year of eligibility given to all student-athletes by the NCAA. She concludes her college career with more than 1,000 kills, joining a long line of outside hitters including Kendra Dahlke, Kalei Mau and Madi Kingdon. The Wildcats will turn to Jaelyn Hodge, Sofia Maldonado and Dilara Gedikoglu to fill Whipple’s shoes starting this fall.
Whipple will also be missed for her leadership skills.
“Paige really kept everything calm, even when things got a little chaotic out there. Just her experience alone kind of allowed us to lean on her a little bit. I think her presence is going to be missed,” Rubio said.
Rubio said he talked to Whipple about coming back.
“I think there’s a part of her that that enjoys a competition. I think she could just show up and play and not have to worry about the other training and the practices and all the things that go with playing and competing. But I think Paige emotionally is ready to move on,” he said. “She was a lot like (ex-Wildcat) Julia Patterson in that way. Both those players were really special to me because of how they approach their day-to-day responsibilities, but I also think that they gave everything they had in that time period. And once that door shut, that chapter is closed. They’re ready to move onto the next chapter on their life.”
Extra points
Maldonado Diaz, who was named Pac-12 and AVCA Pacific South Region Freshman of the Year, will play for Mexico’s junior national team this summer.
Gedikoglu is home in Turkey playing with the national beach volleyball team this summer. Merle Weidt also went home to Germany for the first time since before the pandemic.
Rubio said he isn’t sure when summer training, which is tentatively scheduled for Aug. 9, will start. Prior to the pandemic, students could go to as many summer school sessions as they wanted to. Not anymore.
“We’re hoping that we can get almost every one of our players, incoming players and returning players, on that list for Summer Session II, which is the four weeks prior to when we start the season, which will be in August,” he said.
