The Arizona Wildcats prepare to play ASU volleyball at Desert Financial Arena on Nov. 13, 2025 Photo courtesy of Arizona Athletics
The Arizona Wildcats had the chance to win their fourth straight volleyball match when they travelled to face their in-state rivals at Arizona State. Two of their three wins have come against ranked teams, but the No. 8 Sun Devils the highest-ranked team they have faced this season. A slow start and an inability to close things out ended the streak at three as ASU defeated UA 3-1 (25-11, 20-25, 25-18, 25-22) in Desert Financial Arena on Thursday evening.
“We played better up here than I thought we played in the entire match down in Tucson,” Arizona head coach Rita Stubbs said. “And we had our chances in the fourth set, and we got lax…We struggled in set one, for sure, but then we came back. Did better set two and set three.”
Sometimes it takes a few minutes to get going. It seemed like the first set was over in just a few minutes, though.
Part of that might be attributed to UA having to make last-minute changes to the starting lineup. Between the time that the lineups were posted and the beginning of the match, starting middle blocker Journey Tucker got sick. Sydnie Vanek started in her place as a last-minute substitution.
“They did our announcements,” Stubbs said. “She wasn’t out there. Then they did their announcements. And then I sent a message to say, Hey, is she gonna be back? And they were like, nope, change the people. And so then she came out…and I waited, and then in set two, I was like, Can you do it? And she was like, Yeah, I can do it. I can do it. So she was 8/0/10, so I was happy.”
It’s not a knock on Vanek, but Tucker is the most experienced middle on the team. When she was finally able to enter the match in the second set, she also turned out to be a huge difference maker.
Tucker’s eight kills on 10 swing without an error gave her an .800 hitting percentage and put her third on the team in kills. She also had one of Arizona’s six blocks, giving her 8.5 points.
The group was led by senior Jordan Wilson, who sat out last Friday’s match against Texas Tech for rest. It seemed to do her good.
After a season of more travel than normal and some really difficult road trips in Big 12 play, Wilson had begun to look tired. She was sending her back row attacks into the net more often, and just generally not having as much spring as fans have come to expect. With the number of swings she takes, it was no surprise even if she didn’t talk about it.
“She would never say she’s tired, and that’s a nice thing about the group,” Stubbs said. “They’ll never complain, but it was like, yeah, I know you’re tired.”
Wilson ended with 17 kills, four aces, and two total blocks for 22 points. Her kills and points led the match. She added eight digs to get close to a double-double. She also received serve 23 times, trailing only libero Brenna Ginder (26) and fellow outside hitter Carlie Cisneros (25) on the team.
Cisneros had double-digit kills for the third straight match. She ended with 11, the third-highest total in the match. She added one block assist for 11.5 points. She narrowly missed a double-double with nine digs.
Arizona State led the opening frame wire-to-wire, going up 4-0 out of the gate. The biggest lead was 14 points at 23-9 as the Sun Devils got kills from up and down the lineup. Arizona barely got into double digits and often seemed a step slow.
Then, there was ASU’s block. The Sun Devils had six of their 17 total blocks in the first set as they maintained the 14-point margin to win the frame.
“I think sometimes it just takes us a minute to realize what’s in front of us, even though we’ve talked about it,” Stubbs said. “We practice it and it’s like, And you know what I mean? Like we practice it and it’s like, ’No… Okay?‘ Part of is young. Part of it is just not expecting them to stay consistent in what they do.”
Arizona eventually found its footing in the second set by getting tough at the service line. The team served seven aces. Five of those came in the second period.
“We were serving the ball too easy,” Stubbs said. “It was falling right in their lap versus making them move, which is what we have to do when you play a team that runs a fast offense. You can’t just serve free balls across the net and think that they’re going to be okay.”
Three of the aces in the second set came from Wilson. Avery Scoggins and Adrianna Bridges also contributed to the ace total in the period.
The improved serving was accompanied by improved blocking with Arizona getting all six of its blocks in the second and fourth sets.
“The better servers you are, the better blockers you become,” Stubbs said. “So it was that blocking gets better, which then allows our defense to get better.”
The first two aces from Wilson in the second set came at a critical point early on. ASU lead by as many as four points at the beginning. Wilson got a kill to cut the lead to two points at 8-6, then she went back to serve. She served four straight points. ASU was unable to return half of them. The set was tied when ASU sided out.
Arizona didn’t go on huge runs in the second, but it put together enough small ones of two to four points to open up a solid lead. The final tie came at 15-all. ASU could never get closer than two points after that.
The third set was much like the second but went in favor of the home team. It was a close contest with the final tie coming at 9 points each. The Sun Devils didn’t put a lot of room between themselves and the visitors, though.
Much as Arizona did in the second set, ASU didn’t go on any huge runs. The Sun Devils had two runs of three points each. The second one gave them a 15-11 lead. From there, the teams traded points until the score hit 21-18. ASU closed out the set on a 4-0 run to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
The fourth was even closer. It turned out to be a bit of a heartbreaker for Arizona, which had every chance to push the match to a fifth set.
ASU started quicker than UA did. The Sun Devils eventually gained a 10-6 lead. That’s when Cisneros asserted herself.
Arizona went on a 4-1 run with all four points coming on kills by Cisneros. The run cut the Sun Devils’ lead to 11-10.
“I was excited about Carlie,” Stubbs said. “She’s embracing what she is capable of doing, and that’s all you can ask for. I thought she picked the right line. A couple times, I was like, I don’t know what you’re trying to do there, but she stayed aggressive, which is what she needs to do.”
The run eventually ended on a hitting error, but ASU followed that with three errors of its own. Arizona had a 13-12 lead.
Arizona kept ASU at bay as the home team tried to retake the lead. The Sun Devils tied or got within one point repeatedly, but they were having difficulty going in front. The Wildcats reached 20 points first and eventually stretched the lead to 21-17.
That’s when things stalled for the visiting team. Arizona scored just one more point as ASU used an 8-1 run to end the match. The string included three hitting errors and a receiving error by the Wildcats.
“We got lax,” Stubbs said. “We got blocked…we aired a pass, and then we aired an attack, and it was just kind of a spiral.
Still, the coach was encouraged by what she saw compared to just three weeks ago when the teams met in Tucson.
“I think we’re better at what we do, and we are competing better,” Stubbs said. “You come off some wins, and it gives you more confidence, which is what you want.”
Arizona’s record is now 14-10 overall and 8-6 in the Big 12, which is the top volleyball conference according to RPI. The league is projected to get as many as 11 of its 15 teams into the tournament. Charlie Creme of ESPN had the Wildcats as a No. 7 seed in the tournament as of yesterday. NCAA Volleyball Bracketology had them as a No. 8 seed as of Nov. 11.
The NCAA selection committee seeds the top 32 teams in the tournament. The remaining 32 are placed in regions based on geography and competitive balance.
Arizona came into the match at No. 33 in the official RPI. That will not be updated until next Nov. 17, but the unofficial RPI had dropped UA to No. 40 after matches concluded on Thursday night.
