Arizona volleyball easily dismissed by Kansas State in listless performance

After Kansas State volleyball easily dismissed Arizona 3-0 (26-24, 25-17, 25-18), UA head coach Rita Stubbs did not accompany her team back to the locker room.

“Rita let us go, because she didn’t want to speak out of emotions, which we totally respect,” said freshman outside hitter Carlie Cisneros.

Cisneros and her team didn’t emerge from the locker room until about half an hour after the match was over.

“We needed to have a talk after the game,” Cisneros said. “That’s actually where we were. We talked for a while, and we’re just we’re going to, we will bounce back from this and it’s just fine tuning those little things. We’re close every single set. Same as last week. We are right there, it’s just finishing these games and we just need to keep talking to one another.”

Perhaps talking to each other is what the team needs. At Tuesday’s media availability, both Stubbs and junior outside hitter Jordan Wilson were asked about the leadership situation and how the upperclassmen fit into the team’s success or lack thereof.

Stubbs was specifically asked what she needed from her upperclassmen.

“For them to show that they’re upperclassmen and be able to put the team on their back a little bit when push come to shove,” Stubbs said.

Wilson was asked how the upperclassmen can help lead the team. She was careful in her reply, saying that it was the underclassmen who are taking that role for the most part. Wilson noted that the younger players on the team tend to be the more extroverted ones and are more willing to speak up, but that the older ones were willing to listen. She found positives in that.

“I think the underclassmen kind of beats (the upperclassmen) in the vocalizing their opinions or their feedback,” Wilson said. “I think the upperclassmen, they do give feedback, they are vocal, but I think that it could be to a point where you’re holding that person accountable, rather than just like sugar coating it. And I think the freshmen and…the underclassmen, they’ve really been showcasing that they’re okay if someone gets upset, or if something happens and the other person doesn’t take it well, because they know that they shouldn’t be taking it personal, and they make that known.”

This was a match the team certainly needed. The hometown Wildcats were coming off a run of playing eight of 10 matches against ranked opponents to start Big 12 play 2-8.

Many of the losses were close, but those count like other losses when all is said and done. With Kansas State on the schedule before yet another ranked opponent comes to town on Friday, the time to stop the bleeding was now.

Instead, the cardinal and navy Wildcats fell into the same old patterns. They didn’t close out sets. They let the opponent go on runs then tried to respond after it was too late.

Arizona came in ranked No. 57 in the RPI. KSU was No. 108. This wasn’t one of the top 25 teams that UA had been playing match in and match out, but the home Wildcats looked listless.

Stubbs may not have wanted to talk to her players while she was emotional, but she did speak to the media after the match. The head coach’s voice, which she has been losing since the match at BYU last Saturday when much of the team was sick, was almost completely gone. She admitted that the team played with little energy but took some of that responsibility on herself.

“One hundred percent,” Stubbs said. “If I don’t have energy, I think that’s how I’m going feel the team feels.”

It wasn’t just the team or the coach. McKale Center was quieter than ever. It is tough enough that Big 12 matches are played at 6 p.m. on Wednesday evenings when people are just getting off work. The small crowd was given little reason to get into the match.

Arizona led for most of the first set, but it could never shake the visitors. The lead was never more than two points and KSU came back to tie and even take the one-point lead on a regular basis.

Still, Arizona was the first to reach set point when a serve by Hodge trickled over the net and found the floor.

But K-State Wildcat Aliyah Carter rose to the occasion, as she did again and again in the match. The fifth-year outside hitter wiped away the set point with a kill. On the next point, she got the assist to give KSU its own set point.

Kansas State didn’t win its first set point, but unlike the other Wildcats, it did win its second to go up 1-0 in the match.

There were positives in the opening frame, though. Cisneros and Hodge were both effective and efficient on offense. Wilson wasn’t terribly efficient, but she was effective.

Cisneros had four kills without an error in the first set. She ended the evening with eight kills and only one error, but it took her more attacks to get those kills as the match wore on. She took 31 swings in all, ending with a .226 hitting percentage, but there were steps forward, especially in the early going.

“I’m working on playing with my team, honestly,” Cisneros said. “Offense changes as you go through the game. You know, it’s different from club. It’s different from high school. So I’m adapting to playing offensively in college, because I have my shots, but colleges will see the shots I have and take them away. And Rita is really emphasizing me learning more shots, expanding my game, getting better. And it was effective tonight, because my other teammates were doing their jobs and holding the block, and I was able to try new things.”

Hodge ended the night with nine kills on .129 hitting. She added seven digs, three total blocks, and two aces for a team-high 13 points.

Wilson had a team-high 11 kills but she almost matched that with nine errors on a team-high 37 swings for an .054 hitting percentage. She added nine digs, three assists, and one total block. She accounted for 11.5 points.

Arizona didn’t pick itself up after letting the first set slip away. K-State tied the second set at 4-4 and never trailed again. KSU went up 13-7. UA went on a five-point run to cut the lead to one point but never got closer than that. Before long, it was set point with the score 24-16 in the second.

The third set was a bit more competitive for a while, but not by a lot. Arizona took an 8-5 lead, but KSU responded with a 7-0 run. Hodge led a brief attempt at a comeback to pull UA within a point at 15-14, but KSU used a 10-4 run to close out the match.

Stubbs tried a number of lineup changes during the match to see if it could spark something for Arizona. She used all four of her middle blockers. While senior Alayna Johnson sees reserve time on a fairly regular basis, it was the first Big 12 appearance for freshman Adrianna Bridges. Bridges had one kill and one total block in her conference debut.

Arizona had no answer for Carter all evening. The grad student ended with 16 kills on .268 hitting. She added 12 digs for a double-double. Carter was one of three K-State Wildcats to have double-digit kills.

Arizona’s next opponent is No. 8 Kansas (20-2, 11-1). The Jayhawks dropped their first Big 12 match of the season in a 3-1 loss to No. 11 Arizona State on Wednesday evening. The two teams are now tied atop the league standings but the Sun Devils won the only contest between the two this season.

Lead photo courtesy of Arizona Athletics