Arizona
Arizona volleyball struggles with inconsistency in 5-set loss to Colorado
Consistency is a major ingredient in the formula for success. Enormous performance highs countered by equally enormous lows have been a sticking point for Arizona volleyball head coach Rita Stubbs all season.
Both individual players and the team as a whole have battled those “woes and flows,” as Stubbs called them. The Wildcats dealt with them again on Wednesday evening in a 3-2 (15-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-27, 18-16) loss to Colorado. It marked Arizona’s third straight loss, two of which have come at home.
“It absolutely sucks,” Stubbs said. “Two matches at home that we should not have lost.”
Stubbs was also right about her pre-match assessment of the Buffaloes. She told the media in her weekly press conference that Colorado was a team that would continue to fight no matter what. After all, it was the ninth five-set match for CU this season. The Buffs were 5-3 in the previous eight.
The Arizona head coach was visibly frustrated with the result and the way the match unfolded.
“We just didn’t listen,” Stubbs said. “Every team that we play against, all they do is sit in front of (Kiari Robey), and so she gets frustrated. And you know that now there’s nothing there for her offensively. And then others are still trying to do things they have no business trying to do. They gotta live in the world that we’re in, and I’m telling them that we have to do a better job of coming in and doing what we’re asking them to do, not the what-if thing.”
Stubbs was especially frustrated with the three pins. She felt that Jaelyn Hodge, Jordan Wilson, and Carlie Cisneros all went their own way at times. She has been insistent all season that the pins need to avoid hitting down the line or trying to go around the blockers because it either means hitting into the defense or hitting out of bounds. She wants them to use the block more.
“Blockers were already on the line, yet they’re still hitting down the line,” Stubbs said. “That was one of the main things.”
She also felt that the inconsistency came back to haunt them in the crucial second and third sets that gave the Buffaloes the lead.
“Jae didn’t show up at all in the second and third sets,” Stubbs said. “She got better, but she didn’t show up in two sets offensively, defensively, blocking. Jordan was in and out. Carlie was hitting where she shouldn’t be hitting.”
Those two sets turned the tide in the match.
Arizona came out hot. The only lead Colorado had in the first set came at 3-2. From there, the Wildcats won six of seven points to take an 8-4 advantage. They had seven runs of at least two points including two different 4-0 runs to keep control of the set and win decisively.
As positive as the opening set was for Arizona, the second frame was just as disappointing. The score was tight until 8-8 then Colorado started stringing runs together while the Wildcats didn’t. UA had just four runs of two or more points. It didn’t put more than three points together all set.
It was more of the same in the third set. Arizona scored more than one point in a row just four times. It didn’t score more than two in a row at all.
Colorado wasn’t going on huge runs, but it had enough two- and three-point runs that it could afford to trade points with the Wildcats late in the set. The visitors did just enough to take the 2-1 lead.
The Wildcats woke up again in the fourth. With their backs against the wall, they ran out to a 6-1 lead. They led by as many as seven points, but the Buffs started chipping away at 18-11.
Arizona stalled at 20-15. CU went on a 6-0 run to take a 21-20 lead. Things looked to be over.
UA fought back to go up by two points again at 23-21. Colorado countered with a 3-0 run to give it match point, but the Wildcats responded with two straight points to garner a set point.
CU saved the first set point, but couldn’t save the second and Arizona had new life. The 15-point final set would decide it.
The Wildcats took an 11-7 lead in the fifth. They just needed four points before the Buffaloes got eight.
Instead, they stalled again, and Colorado came back to tie it at 12 points apiece. Arizona fought back to earn the first match point in the final frame. It came at 14-13.
While service errors weren’t a huge problem in the match—at least not when compared to the 2.86 per set that the Wildcats average—that old nemesis rose its head at the worst possible time. Hodge’s service error wiped away the match point.
The fifth-year pin shook it off. On the next point, Hodge’s kill gave the Wildcats their second match point.
The Buffaloes responded with two straight points to get their own match point. The back-and-forth affair continued with Cisneros getting the kill to even it up again.
That only prolonged the agony. CU got another match point—its third of the match and second of the set—and this time Cisneros hit out for the final margin.
While Stubbs was frustrated with some of Wilson’s play, the junior outside hitter had her strongest match in Big 12 play. She had 16 kills on .324 hitting. She added three total blocks and two aces for a season-high 19.5 points. She got a double-double by throwing in 11 digs.
Wilson continued to have difficulties in the back row as she works to become a full-time player, but Stubbs has said all season that it’s to be expected when making this change. Wilson had four receiving errors, accounting for half of CU’s aces, but she was the most offensively efficient of Arizona’s three pins throughout the match.
Cisneros led the Wildcats with 19 kills, but she also had eight of their 27 hitting errors to drop her hitting percentage to .239. An ace and a block assist gave her 20.5 points. Like the other two pins, she ended with a double-double. She matched Wilson with 11 digs.
Hodge led the team with 21 points resulting from 17 kills, an ace, and six block assists. Her double-double included 13 digs.
As a team, Arizona ended with 65 kills to Colorado’s 62. The Wildcats won the digs category 65-60 and out-blocked the Buffaloes 12 to 7.
CU won in hitting percentage .252 to .228 largely because they won the attack error stat 22-27. The Buffaloes had eight aces to the Wildcats’ seven and 10 service errors compared to UA’s 11.
The difference came down to who was more consistent more often. The Buffs spread the good and the bad over four of the five sets, only failing to keep pace with Arizona in the opening frame. The Wildcats had one excellent set, then swung in the other direction for the next two, before stabilizing in the final two sets.
“We do tend to struggle with being a little bit of a rollercoaster with how we’re playing or not, and I think the moment that we start to get consistent, having a strong start, strong, middle, and strong finish I think we’ll be good,” Wilson said. “I think the up and down is what really kind of lost it today.”
Arizona gets another opportunity to protect its home court and find that consistency on Friday when Houston comes to town. The Cougars were swept by ASU on Wednesday evening.
Lead photo by Reagan Helfer / Arizona Athletics
Arizona
NAU launches first-of-its-kind engineering degree to fast-track Arizona’s future workforce – The NAU Review
As Arizona’s semiconductor and advanced manufacturing industries continue to grow at a rapid pace, Northern Arizona University’s Steve Sanghi College of Engineering is launching a new degree program designed to help meet the state’s workforce needs.
Beginning this fall, NAU will offer a Bachelor of Professional Studies in Engineering Technology, a flexible, workforce-focused degree pathway that prepares students for careers in microelectronics, semiconductors and advanced manufacturing in as little as three years. The 90-credit bachelor’s degree creates a more accessible pathway into engineering careers through a hands-on, applied curriculum and a streamlined transfer model with Arizona community colleges.
The program follows a 45-45 completion structure, allowing students to complete 45 credits at a community college and 45 credits through NAU. Courses will be delivered through synchronous remote instruction at NAU’s North Valley campus in Phoenix and at Pima Community College in Tucson, increasing access for statewide students.
Addressing Arizona’s growing semiconductor workforce
Designed with workforce readiness in mind, the program emphasizes practical engineering application, systems implementation, testing, quality control, systems analysis, manufacturing, fabrication, process control and project management. Students will gain technical and problem-solving skills aligned with the needs of Arizona’s rapidly evolving manufacturing economy.
“This new bachelor’s degree empowers students to identify real-world engineering challenges and develop practical solutions,” said James Palmer, associate dean for academic affairs at the Steve Sanghi College of Engineering. “We are creating a more accessible pathway into engineering careers while preparing graduates to support Arizona’s growing microelectronics and semiconductor industry.”
Arizona has emerged as one of the nation’s fastest-growing semiconductor hubs, with more than $200 billion in semiconductor-related investments announced in the Greater Phoenix region since 2020, including expansions from Intel, TSMC and Amkor Technology. TSMC alone has committed up to $165 billion toward Arizona operations, including multiple fabrication plants and advanced packaging facilities expected to create thousands of technical and manufacturing jobs.
Industry demand continues to grow for professionals with applied engineering and advanced manufacturing skills in areas such as process engineering, manufacturing systems, equipment operations and yield enhancement. NAU’s new degree program was developed to help students quickly enter these high-demand career fields while supporting Arizona’s long-term economic growth and domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity.
The program also aligns with NAU’s strategic commitment to expanding access to affordable, student-centered educational opportunities that prepare graduates for meaningful careers and long-term success.
Students interested in learning more about the Bachelor of Professional Studies in Engineering Technology program should contact SCE@nau.edu.
PHOENIX (AP) — The two Republican congressmen running for Arizona governor pitched themselves at a debate Wednesday as the only candidate with broad enough voter appeal to unseat Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs amid the state’s affordability struggles.
U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, who is the GOP primary’s frontrunner and has the endorsement of President Donald Trump, portrayed himself as being able to cross party lines and having the right experience to be the state’s chief executive.
“There’s not a doubt in my mind, if you look at the polling data that you’re going to find, I am the most competitive with Katie Hobbs of anybody on this stage in any Republican in the state,” Biggs said.
U.S. Rep. David Schweikert, who has survived three tough Democratic challenges in recent years, believes his focus on government finances and his drive to bring new business to the state make him the singular Republican candidate.
“These are wonderful people, but they’ve never actually been in the great battle,” Schweikert said of Biggs and two other Republican opponents.
Businessman Scott Neely, who ran an unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 2022, said after the debate that if Biggs wins the primary, Republicans will lose the election.
The winner of the July 21 primary will face Hobbs, who’s running unopposed in the primary.
Biggs has served five terms in the U.S. House, representing a heavily GOP district in the eastern Phoenix suburbs and serving at one time as chairman of the ultra-right U.S. House Freedom Caucus.
Before that, Biggs served in the Arizona Legislature from 2003 through 2016, including four years as president of the state Senate. He battled with then-Republican Gov. Jan Brewer on a Medicaid expansion in 2013 and pushed school choice measures and bills targeting abortion providers.
Biggs is one of Trump’s top defenders in Congress and supported Trump’s false claims the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.
Schweikert, a budget hawk known for railing against government debt, has represented an affluent district that includes parts of northeast Phoenix and Scottsdale for eight terms. He served in the Arizona House in the 1990s and as Maricopa County’s treasurer in the 2000s.
Schweikert has focused his congressional career on sounding the alarm about the federal budget deficit and the ballooning U.S. debt, often in late-night speeches to a nearly empty House chamber and bleary-eyed C-SPAN viewers. Schweikert has praised Trump’s 2017 tax cuts but has called for more spending cuts to reduce federal borrowing.
His reputation was tarnished by ethics scandals. In 2022, he received a $125,000 fine by the Federal Election Commission for misappropriating campaign funds. Two years prior, he agreed to pay a $50,000 fine and accept 11 campaign finance violations after an investigation by the U.S. House Committee on Ethics. In his last three general campaigns for Congress, Schweikert staved off challenges from Democrats. Biggs voiced support for Arizona’s recent passage of a three-year moratorium on tax incentives for new data centers – a move Hobbs also has touted. “They shouldn’t be given a break,” Biggs said, noting the large amounts of power and water that data centers use.
Schweikert bemoaned Arizona’s unfavorable affordability rankings as “pretty miserable,” but said consumer prices don’t come down magically. He vowed to aggressively recruit businesses to Arizona and push for wage growth.
Both congressmen were asked about the expired healthcare subsidies for those getting coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
“We’re going to have to deal with the reality of subsidization of everything in the economy is not going to work,” Schweikert said.
Biggs said he introduced legislation in Congress to bring down healthcare costs and also voiced support for Trump’s proposal to send money directly to Americans for health savings accounts so they can handle insurance and health costs as they see fit.
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