Arizona
Arizona Wildcats Women’s Volleyball Accomplishes Something Not Done in 15 Years
The only thing that may be hotter than the temperatures in Tuscon is the Arizona Wildcats women’s volleyball team.
They wrapped up their out-of-conference schedule at the Wildcat Classic with a matchup against Southern Utah. It was a strong performance, as Arizona came away with a sweep, winning 25-21, 25-19 and 25-20.
That was the seventh sweep of the season already, as the team moves to 10-0 out of the gate. This is the first time since 2009 that they have been undefeated heading into conference play.
Three members were named to the 2024 Wildcat Classic All-Tournament Team; Jaelyn Hodge, Carlie Cisneros and Avery Scoggins. Joining them are Ali Hinze and Alexis Boling of North Dakota State University and Arianna Rossi and Victoria Zibecchi of Southern Utah.
Cisneros had a dominant performance, leading the Wildcats with 11 kills and 13 digs. It was the third time this season she has recorded a double-double.
Hodge had eight kills in a great bounce-back performance. At the New Mexico State tournament last week, she struggled to find a rhythm.
A negative hitting percentage was recorded against Abilene Christian and Texas Southern before ending on a higher note against the host team.
Ahead of the performance against Southern Utah on Thursday, she ended the game against the North Dakota State Bison with 17 kills on 33 attempts.
“I think just staying in extra and getting reps with Avery and just working on our connection and getting a rhythm for this, because I feel like I’ve just been in this struggle,” Hodge said, via Kim Doss of Arizona Desert Swarm. “Just getting extra reps with Avery and Ana has been a very big help for me.”
A subtle adjustment was made in the game plan to help Hodge get going, according to head coach Rita Stubbs.
“We’ve changed where she’s starting her position in terms of attacking, and I think that has helped and made her become more offensive,” the coach said.
While a lot of focus was on the offensive performance of the team, Arizona was thriving defensively as well. They finished the match against the Thunderbirds with nine blocks; a team-high five were recorded by Alayna Wilson.
The Wildcats will begin Big 12 play this week against the Baylor Bears and TCU Horned Frogs, both on the road. They will be in Waco on Wednesday, September 25th and Fort Worth on Friday, September 27th.
Last night was the seventh consecutive game where the Diamondbacks were held to six hits or fewer. That ties a franchise record, last done in April 2022, and previously in August 2011. The team’s .477 OPS over that time is actually lower than either streak, though due to the efforts of the pitching staff, Arizona are actually 3-4 during the current run. They went 2-5 in 2022, and 1-6 in 2011. There hasn’t been a longer streak in the majors since the Angels went nine in April last year. In the National League, the Pirates went eight in June 2023. And in case you are wondering, the last team to reach a double-digit streak of games with 6 or fewer hits each time? The 1968 Astros reached 11, the year before the mound was lowered.
Let’s hope the D-backs render that moot and the offense comes to life a bit. The three runs added in garbage time last night, because one of the Rangers’ relievers couldn’t find the strike-zone, certainly padded Arizona’s resume. But they were more because of walks than hits. I’ve no doubt the team will hit better. They have batted .152 over the past week. It’s the second lowest in franchise history for a seven-game span. The only worse was April 7-15, 2022 when Arizona hit a remarkable .135, going 28-for-208 in that span. They actually scored three more runs than the current streak, mostly because they had twice as many home-runs (6-3).
Superintendent Tom Horne speaks at 2026 State of Education address
Arizona Superintendent Tom Horne spoke about controversial topics like DEI and ESAs at the State of Education address to the Legislature on Jan. 20, 2026.
Provided by Arizona Legislature
Democrats Brett Newby and Teresa Leyba Ruiz are set to make the argument to voters that they’re the best candidates to serve as Arizona’s top education official for the next four years.
The Arizona Republic will be streaming the Democratic debate for the Superintendent of Public Instruction race in partnership with the Arizona Media Association. The debate starts at 6 p.m. on May 13.
The office is currently held by Tom Horne, who will on May 14 face off in an Arizona Media Association debate against fellow Republican candidate Kimberly Yee, who currently serves as state treasurer.
Newby has worked as a behavioral analyst and professor, according to his campaign. He received a master’s degree in special education. His campaign has hinged on issues like downsizing the state’s controversial Empowerment Scholarship Program, retaining teachers and hiring more school counselors.
Ruiz attended Roosevelt Elementary School District and Phoenix Union High School District as a child before earning her Ph.D. from Arizona State University. She worked as a teacher at the middle and high school level before becoming president of Glendale Community College.
Like Newby, her campaign has also focused on the ESA program. She has also focused on advocating for more funding for public schools and supporting both rural and urban school districts. Ruiz has also spoken publicly about the teacher retention crisis as part of her campaign.
The last trip through the rotation for the Diamondbacks has been really good:
By that 5-game rolling average game score, it’s the best we’ve seen since a run around the All Star Break in 2022:
If we restrict to 5-game stretches with 5 different starters, it’s the best since September 2019:
So yeah, it’s been a while since we’ve had it this good. But this is still a far cry from the best in Diamondbacks history — the current stretch is only tied for 58th all-time. Here’s the best ever:
The good news is that there’s still quite a lot of room for Zac Gallen to improve on his last start, which had a Game Score of only 47. Doing so would give us an even better 5-game average. A score of better than 60 would surpass the 2022 streak; 69 or better would surpass 2018. Although it would take a career-best-tying 89 (reached against the Cubs on September 8, 2023) for him to pull the overall average into a tie for the franchise record. But any improvement on his last start would bring the rolling average up in the franchise rankings.
All records queried here are courtesy of Retrosheet.
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