Wildcats 'just as excited' to play in NIVC, which starts Friday in McKale

The Arizona Wildcats had one major goal for 2021: Make the postseason.

And they have. On Friday, the UA will compete in a playoff match for the first time since 2018 — it just won’t be in the NCAA Tournament.

Instead, the Wildcats (16-15) will be hosting the first two rounds of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship. They’ll face Texas-Rio Grande Valley (17-10) at 6 p.m. Friday, with the winner taking on either UNLV or New Mexico State on Saturday afternoon. Arizona is very familiar with New Mexico State, having played — and beaten — the Aggies twice during the regular season.

This year’s NIVC features 30 teams playing in a 32-team bracket. Arkansas received a first-round bye; UNC Greensboro was forced to withdraw because of COVID-19 concerns, allowing North Florida to advance without playing a first-round match. With two wins this weekend, Arizona would advance to the tournament’s round of eight.

“We recognize that it’s not the NCAA Tournament and all the bells and whistles that go with the NCAA Tournament,” coach Dave Rubio said. “But also, we need to be thankful that we have a postseason tournament.”

This will be Arizona’s first appearance in the NIVC. The secondary tournament, designed for teams that don’t qualify for the NCAA Tournament, was originally formed in 1989. It was abandoned after six years before being brought back in 2017.

Rubio said his team received a NIVC bid in 2019 but declined because the Wildcats “were so beat up” from injuries sustained that year.

“We really would have benefited from playing in that tournament,” Rubio said. “We just didn’t have enough bodies.”

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Now, Arizona is healthy. Hungry, too.

“We’re just as excited,” senior middle blocker Zyonna Fellows said. “This still gives us an opportunity to win and show how much improvement, as a team, we’ve made. Even though it’s not the NCAA (Tournament), it’s still just as important.”

It was never the plan to play in the NIVC tournament. Rubio says the conversations during the season were always centered around making the NCAA Tournament, but that “the writing was on the wall a couple of weeks ago” that Arizona was going to fall short. Even a regular-season-ending sweep of ASU on Saturday didn’t help the Wildcats’ chances of making the NCAAs.

Rubio said he did not hesitate to accept the NIVC invitation, hoping that his young squad can gain some extra experience from playing in the tournament. Many of the Wildcats’ top performers are underclassmen eager for postseason experience.

Just two players on the UA roster — Fellows and fellow senior Malina Kalei Ua — have taken part in a postseason match.

“Everyone has a different reason for deciding to go down this road,” Rubio said. “For us, it’s because of how young our team is. The hope is that you have a long view to this and the following year, your players have already gone through a postseason play.”

Arizona’s three seniors — Fellows, Kalei Ua and Merle Weidt — will have a chance to play in McKale at least one more time before their college careers come to a close.

“For me, it’s just going out with a bang,” Fellows said. “Pretty much, I have these last two weeks to just put it out there, put everything I’ve learned and everything that I’ve worked for on the court.”