The quartet of Jaelyn Hodge, Jordan Wilson, Avery Scoggins, and Carlie Cisneros make up the most single-season conference honorees in Arizona volleyball history.
In the preseason Big 12 volleyball polls, the Arizona Wildcats were picked to finish 12th in a 15-team lead. Only fifth-year opposite Jaelyn Hodge was on the preseason all-conference team. Their 7th-place finish may not have impressed the NCAA selection committee, but it was enough to garner recognition from the conference.
Along with Hodge, junior outside hitter Jordan Wilson, freshman setter Avery Scoggins, and freshman outside hitter Carlie Cisneros were all named to postseason all-conference teams. It’s the most postseason conference honorees in Arizona program history.
Both Hodge and Wilson were named to the All-Big-12 First Team. Scoggins was named to the All-Big 12 Second Team and the Big 12 All-Rookie Team. Cisneros was also honored as a member of the Big 12 All-Rookie Team.
Hodge was named All-Pac-12 honorable mention after her junior season in 2022, but this was her first time on a full all-conference team.
She was second on the team with 3.80 kills per set. That ranked fifth in the Big 12.
Hodge was also critical to both net and floor defense. Her 0.65 blocks per set were tied for 42nd in the conference and tied for 9th among Big 12 pin hitters. It was the third-best mark on the team. She had 2.21 digs per set, the team’s fifth-best number. It ranked 21st among Big 12 players who don’t play libero or defensive specialist.
Hodge made dramatic improvements in all parts of her game this season. The 3.80 k/s were more than 0.50 k/s better than her previous best, which was set in 2021. She had a .235 hitting percentage, an improvement of .029 over the .206 she had last season. On serve, she aced opponents 0.17 times per set, an increase of 0.04 over the personal best she set in 2021.
Defensively, Hodge went from 2.04 d/s last year to 2.21 this year. The 0.65 b/s bumped up her personal best from the 0.56 she had in 2022.
Hodge improved her points per set by 0.64 over the number she had in 2021. It was the first year she contributed more than four points per set, ending the regular season at 4.31 p/s.
The fifth-year player became Arizona’s all-time leader is sets and matches played this season. She has
Wilson was a member of the Pac-12 All-Freshman team in 2022 when she played for USC, but this is her first conference honor since.
Wilson came on strong late in the season to overtake Hodge for the team lead in kills per set, narrowly edging her teammate out by 0.01. Wilson’s 3.81 k/s were fourth in the Big 12 and 78th in the country. She surpassed 1,000 career kills last week.
With Wilson on the left side and Hodge on the right, Arizona had the only tandem of pins in the top 10 of the Big 12 for kills per set. Even more impressive, they were both in the top five of the league.
Wilson’s biggest problem has been efficiency, but her hitting percentage climbed late in the season to finish at .257. That was 29th in the Big 12 among players with at least 3.33 attacks per set (the NCAA minimum for ranking). It was 11th among Big 12 pins who met the minimum. It was second on the team among players who met the NCAA minimum and fourth on the team among players who appeared in more than 10 matches.
Wilson’s previous high in hitting percentage was .243 her freshman season at USC. She hit .215 last year in her first season at Arizona.
On defense, Wilson jumped from 0.27 blocks per set last year to 0.51 this year, setting a career high. Her 2.45 digs per set were almost two more than last season when she had 0.51. Much of that was due to playing six rotations for most of the season. She came in third on the team, trailing Scoggins and Cisneros but beating out both liberos. It was also a career high.
On serve, she was good for 0.24 aces per set. That was second on the team behind Cisneros and in the top 35 among Big 12 players who appeared in approximately two-thirds of their teams’ matches. Wilson had just 0.01 aces per set last season when she was generally removed from the game when it was time to rotate to the back row. She had 0.04 aces per set as a freshman.
It all amounted to 4.33 points per set, another career high for Wilson. They placed her fifth in the Big 12 in points per set.
Scoggins had an incredible season for the Wildcats, earning a spot on the All-Big 12 second team and the all-rookie team. Surprisingly for the four-time Rookie of the Week, she was not only beat out for Rookie of the Year but she wasn’t even a unanimous selection for the all-rookie team. Kansas middle blocker Reese Ptacek was the only freshman to get everyone’s votes for the freshman team and took the ROTY honor.
Scoggins averaged 10.50 assists per set, becoming the first Arizona setter since Julia Patterson in 2018 to average double-digit assists. Patterson was a junior that season and had Kendra Dahlke averaging 4.77 kills per set on the left side.
Scoggins’ assists per set were second in the Big 12, outpacing conference setter of the year Argentina Ung who had 10.32 assists per set. They were third in the country among freshman setters. She was 26th in the country among all setters who appeared in at least two-thirds of their teams’ matches.
Scoggins became just the fifth freshman in Arizona history to have more than 1,000 assists in a season. She ended the regular season with 1,029.
The Arizona setter was second on the team in digs per set with 2.62. Her 257 total digs has her ranked 8th in Wildcat history for freshmen. She needs 23 to tie Kim Glass for seventh.
Scoggins’ 0.21 service aces per set were third on the team among players who met the minimum requirement of playing in at least 2⁄3 of the team’s sets.
Fellow Big 12 All-Rookie honoree Cisneros led the team in key defensive and serve receive stats. She paced the team with 3.08 digs per set, placing in the top 20 among Big 12 players who met the minimum requirements. She ranked 2nd in the Big 12 among players who do not play the libero or defensive specialist position. Only KU senior Caroline Bien ranked above her, and Bien is listed as an OH/libero on the Jayhawks’ roster.
Cisneros is already writing her name in the Arizona record books. She has 326 digs with at least one more match to go. She sits in fifth place all-time for digs by an Arizona freshman. She can catch Penina Snuka for fourth with 13 more digs. She would need 72 to tie Kamaile Hiapo for first.
Cisneros was targeted by opponents’ servers 728 times, the most of any Arizona player. Out of players who met minimum requirements for sets played, she tied libero Brenna Ginder for the team lead with a .959 success rate on serve receive. She had just 30 receiving errors all year.
When Cisneros went to the service line, she put pressure on the opponents’ serve receive. She led the team with 0.38 aces per set. That was tied for fourth in the Big 12.
The freshman pin was third on the team with 2.59 kills per set, although she hit just .213.
When Scoggins was forced to take the first ball, Cisneros was an effective backup plan. Her 0.23 assists per set were the most by anyone on the team who wasn’t a setter or L/DS.
The recognition may take a bit of the sting off not making the NCAA Tournament. However, the Wildcats are looking for team accolades more than personal honors. They will attempt to do that in the NIVC which gets started in McKale Center on Friday. Arizona takes the court on Saturday to face the winner of Friday’s match between Weber State and Pacific.
Lead photo courtesy of Arizona Athletics