Arizona volleyball had its first season in 1974. The Wildcats’ record book doesn’t show a single season with more than one double-digit winning streak. Next year, it will.

The Wildcats (23-9, 9-9 Big 12) stretched their current winning streak to 10 matches with a 3-1 (25-20, 27-25, 13-25, 25-18) win over the Northern Colorado Bears (28-8, 14-2 Big Sky) in the Fab 4 of the NIVC on Thursday evening.

Arizona opened the season with an 11-match winning streak. If it wins the NIVC, it will end the season the same way.

“It means a lot,” said Arizona head coach Rita Stubbs. “I’ve asked them to do some things that aren’t always comfortable, in terms of mentally and just stepping out of their comfort zone, sharing different ways and things of that nature. So it’s nice to see me asking them to do that, and they bought in, and wanted to do it as well, and then they get rewarded on the backside of it. So it’s something that I’m very proud of them for. I’m never really big into numbers in terms of wins and losses and whatnot. It’s about putting on a good product and asking the fans to come out and support us, and making the team feel like they are actually doing everything that we’ve been working on.”

The Bears didn’t go away easily. They led by at least three points in every set. They could only hold it in one.

UNC started the match 3-0 and led until the Wildcats went on a 5-0 run to take a 10-9 lead in the opening set. The last tie came at 10 points apiece. Arizona pulled away from there, using another run to go up 17-12. That five-point gap would be the deciding margin.

The Bears appeared to shake off the first set. They took a 19-14 lead in the second with the 19th point coming on their third ace of the set. Then, they started to fade. Arizona went on a 5-1 run to close the lead to one point.

With the Bears leading 20-19, the Wildcats were able to string points together down the stretch while UNC could never get more than one point in a row. UNC has two set points at 24-23 and 25-24, but Arizona fifth-year opposite Jaelyn Hodge wiped both away with two of her 13 kills.

An ace by Carlie Cisneros got Arizona its first set point. The Wildcats didn’t waste it. Sophomore middle blocker Journey Tucker had a career-high 12 kills on the night and none was more important than the one that gave Arizona the second set.

“I thought in the second set it came down to ball-handling errors on our side of the net,” UNC head coach Lyndsey Oates said. “We set a ball out of bounds, and then we picked up two tips that we weren’t able to control…We were in control, and we let them off the hook with a couple easy balls there, and you can’t do that with a good team.”

Hodge felt that serve receive on Arizona’s part was also key. UNC’s third and final ace of the set came just before the Wildcats started their run to get back into it.

“Cleaning up our serve receive, building momentum, and just knowing it’s one point at a time,” Hodge said. “You’re not gonna win it off of one kill or one block.”

It could have deflated the Bears. They could have easily folded. Instead, they tried to repeat the reverse sweep that moved them past the Arkansas Red Wolves the night before.

UNC never trailed in the third set. They were up 8-2 in a flash.

“In the third set, the difference in our favor was service pressure,” Oates said. “We got them in trouble passing-wise.”

They once again aced Arizona three times. This time they followed it up and ran away with the set by a 25-13 margin.

Stubbs tried several things. She put Ana Heath in to set, briefly taking Avery Scoggins out. She had Adrianna Bridges come in at middle blocker for a few points. Arizona was just in too big of a hole to recover. The Wildcats would have to try to rebound to avoid going five.

“We have to play to win versus being afraid to lose,” Stubbs said. ‘And that’s something that they kind of go through and say, ‘Okay, I can do this.’ But the nice thing is that they stayed together and they rallied around one another and put themselves in a position and just continued to fight.”

They did it by communicating with each other.

“I think we knew that team wasn’t going to back down at all,” Hodge said. “They’ve been to so many five sets, so telling ourselves that and calming things down. Resetting every point, and just knowing our offense. I’ll come in when it gets hectic and I’ll be, ‘Okay, Avery, what are we running? Tell us each so it simplifies.’ And then just going out, executing, doing your job.”

The Bears started the set like they had every intention of playing five for the second straight night. They led at 8-5, but Arizona chipped away. UNC’s last lead came at 11-10 in the fourth. The last tie came at 13-13.

The Wildcats went on an 8-2 run to take control of the set and the match. Senior defensive specialist Ava Tortorello punctuated the run with an ace to put her team up 21-15. It was all but over.

Oates felt her team stopped putting pressure on Arizona’s serve receive in the fourth set.

“There was a couple rotations where we needed to score points, and we missed our serve in those rotations, and we just can’t do that,” Oates said. “We can’t give up those points.”

After an off-night against Arkansas State when she played while nursing the flu, UNC sophomore pin Gabi Plecide bounced back to give the Bears a strong offensive option. She led the match with 16 kills and 17 points.

“There’s big things ahead for her in her next two years as a Bear,” Oates said.

It was a big night for Arizona’s middles. In addition to doubling her previous career high in kills, Tucker had six total blocks, including two solo. She did her damage on 19 swings without a hitting error.

Being an offensive option continues to be Tucker’s goal. She is a strong blocker, but her offense is something she’s still working on. Both she and Stubbs felt that the work she has been doing in practice was on display in the match.

“We have been working on me getting off the net after blocking and being an option offensively, especially on transition balls,” Tucker said. “And just making sure I’m watching the pass and being able to see where Avery or Ana goes. And making sure I’m getting up there fast and not too late, so I could be an option up there.”

She didn’t know how well it was working as the match was unfolding, though.

“She didn’t even know those were her numbers,” Stubbs said. “I called her over at the very end, and she was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so surprised.’ And so that tells you how dialed in she is, just doing what she’s supposed to do versus worrying about stats.”

Fellow starting middle blocker Alayna Johnson had her second straight strong match. She had eight kills on 17 swings without an error. She added an assist, three digs, and two total blocks. One of her blocks was solo.

“It just helps the offense in general, getting holes and gaps and just openings with them getting kills,” Hodge said. “I tell every time set the middles. It’s literally past-set-kill. Every time. Set the middles. They get up over the block and they just build their confident to get up higher with just jumping on the blocking or hitting. So I think just getting them involved more in our offense is so important for us to be successful.”

Arizona will face either St. John’s or Bowling Green in the NIVC championship match. Those teams play in the second semifinal on Saturday, Dec. 14 at 5 p.m. MST. The location of the final will be announced when that match is complete.

Regardless of where it is played, it will be the final match in a Wildcat uniform for Hodge, Tortorello, Johnson, Amanda DeWitt, and possibly Haven Wray.

“Carlie was like, ‘It could be your last match in McKale tonight.’” Hodge said. “I was like, trying to take it in. I was like, ‘Okay, walk slow with me. Let me take it in.’ And I don’t think it’s gonna hit until after, and I’m not gonna be in 7 a.m. lift or practice. I think that’s when it’s gonna hit. But it is sad. I think about it all the time.”

Lead photo by Mike Christy / Arizona Athletics