At 6 feet tall, Devyn Cross joked that she may be one of the shortest middle blockers in the Pac-12.
It hasn’t stopped the senior from reaching big heights.
On Sept. 21 against Sacramento State, she had a near-perfect game. Cross hit .909, garnering 10 kills on 11 attempts with no errors. She is one of only seven players in the country who have hit .900 in a match this season.
Cross leads the NCAA with a .519 hitting percentage heading into this weekend’s play. In fact, she’s the only player in the country hitting over .500.
“It caught me off-guard,” Cross said. “It’s really exciting, but it’s also kind of humbling, because I realize at any moment — every week, it changes. There will be somebody else to replace you. It’s nice to enjoy in the moment. Hopefully, (I’ll) keep it up and stay No. 1.”
The Wildcats host No. 20 Utah (9-4, 1-1 Pac-12) Friday at 6 p.m., and Colorado (8-4, 0-2 Pac-12) Sunday at noon.
Cross has taken on a larger role as a senior, in part because coach Dave Rubio’s new offense benefits middle blockers.
Cross’ athleticism might be her biggest strength. It’s what caused Rubio to pursue both Cross and teammate Liz Shelton, both of whom played at a small high school on Edwards Air Force Base in California.
Rubio says both are “elite-level players.”
“You just don’t get those type of athletes very often,” Rubio said. “(Former UA star) Whitney Dosty was one of them. Cursty Jackson was one of them. You don’t really get elite-level, world-class athletes. Now the question was: Could we ever get them close to being good enough players — (could we get) their aptitude and their skillset to catch up to their athleticism?”
Cross’ numbers say yes. She has just 12 errors all season, the second-fewest of any player nationally.
Rubio isn’t surprised that Cross is putting such big numbers. It might not be long before she ranks with Marisa DaLee, Dominique Lamb and Jackson — three of the greatest middle blockers to wear an Arizona uniform.
“Devyn so far has shown she has a little bit more horsepower on the offense and a better blocker. So the package is a little bit better,” Rubio said. “But, I would take any one of those guys right now, as well. They are all excellent and certainly deserve to be mentioned.”
Cross initially didn’t think she’d see the floor at Arizona.
“Then I was like ‘OK, I can actually play with them,’” she said. “I’ve come to the realization that I am one of them. I am good like them. They made it, I made it, too. Why not play like it? It’s just one of those things: my confidence has built over the years and it’s exciting to actually realize that I am one of those people — one of the best. Even though I came from a (high) school that nobody knew about.”
Extra points
• Libero Makenna Martin has been battling a hamstring injury, and her replacement, Kamaile Hiapo, went down with a hamstring strain Saturday against USC. Hiapo will sit out this weekend’s matches.
Who’s up next?
“There probably aren’t too many teams in the country that have three kids that could actually do a good job. Emi (Pua’a) played libero last year, so that’s not much of a transition. The question is the next little that goes in,” said Rubio.
That’s because Erin Williamson has been diagnosed with mononucleosis.
“It’s frustrating all the way around with that position,” Rubio.
• Pac-12 play got off to wacky start last weekend: No. 8 Washington upended then-No. 1 Stanford, 3-1, No. 24 Oregon beat No. 18 Utah, 3-2, and Arizona was swept by ASU.
“It’s going to be a tough year for everybody in the conference because of how close it is,” Rubio said. “If you looked at just the conference matches for last week, on who won and who lost, it was a very interesting weekend. And I think that’s the way it’s going to be every week.”
• Cross’ cousin, Zoe Weatherington, plays at Utah. That’s not the only reason why she’s itching to play the Utes. “We’re excited to play in front of the home crowd — the first Pac-12 game at home. What could be better?” she said.
