It’s a cliché, but one UA head coach Dave Rubio knows is true when it comes to the Arizona Wildcats’ annual, end-of-the-season match against Arizona State. No matter the records, no matter the stakes. Saturday’s noon match will be tightly contested.
“I think it’s going to be a pretty close match, as they always are when they come here,” Rubio said.
Arizona and ASU will both likely miss the volleyball postseason as both teams have gone 1-6 over their past seven matches. Arizona was swept 3-0 at No. 19 Oregon on Tuesday night, while ASU fell 3-1 at woeful Oregon State.
There’s still plenty to play for in the rivalry match.
Arizona (15-15, 7-12) has won six of the last nine matches against Arizona State (14-16, 7-12), including a five-set showdown on Sept. 23 in Tempe. With a win Saturday, Arizona can complete its first season sweep of the Sun Devils since 2018.
UA outside hitter Jaelyn Hodge led the September match with 15 kills and 17 digs, while sophomore Sophia Maldonado Diaz tallied 11 kills and eight digs.
Rubio expects Arizona State to be “completely different” from where they were two months ago.
Of course, “I think we are, too,” he said, “so it’ll be an interesting match.”
While their records are almost identical, ASU has picked up a few more significant wins along the way. Like Arizona, the Sun Devils have a win against No. 18 Stanford to go with upset victories over No. 13 UCLA and No. 18 Utah.
“They’ve gotten significantly better,” Rubio said. “They found an outside hitter. They kind of had a revolving door on the one player that stays there … and then they have a new player that’s done really well for them, a freshman. So they’re much steadier, much more consistent and playing with a lot more confidence, way more offensive.”
For Arizona’s three seniors — Zyonna Fellows, Merle Weidt and Malina Kalei Ua — Saturday marks not only a final rivalry match but one last match in McKale Center.
“I think it’s a different motivator for those games,” sophomore setter Emery Herman said. “I think there’s different motivations going into each game. There’s a different, personal side to each game. The older girls have a different version of it than we do.”
For the rest of Arizona’s young roster, Saturday’s match won’t exactly feel the same. Rubio says his young squad is still learning the importance of the rivalry.
“I think it becomes a bigger deal when you’re in the program and you’ve graduated from the program and it becomes a bigger deal … I think when you’re first here, it takes a little while to kind of nurture those feelings,” he said.
Whether Arizona wants to or not, the Wildcats will have to lean on their younger players to carry the anchor against ASU. Hodge and Maldonado Diaz have consistently finished in the top two in kills, but the Wildcats likely need freshman Puk Stubbe to step up.
Stubbe has averaged 10 kills a match in conference play this season. Although she’s only a freshman, Stubbe is 21 years old. Rubio says her age has been the reason for her success so early on in her career.
“There’s no question that the reason why you see Puk’s numbers the way that they are is because she just is able to handle things,” Rubio said. “I don’t want to say in a more mature way, but just that she has more experience.
“Most freshmen are 17 to 18. If she were in the American system when she was that age, by the time she was 21, she would be a senior. So she behaves like a senior and she thinks like a senior.”
