The Arizona Wildcats (19-9, 8-9 Big 12) had a goal this year. To get to “set five” of the season, which meant the NCAA Tournament. It’s still within their grasp after a 3-1 (24-26, 25-19, 25-20, 25-23) win over UCF (9-17. 2-14 Big 12) in McKale Center Wednesday afternoon.
The win marked the sixth straight conference victory for Arizona. That has not happened for the Wildcats since 2001, the year they went to the Final Four.
“It’s amazing,” said Arizona head coach Rita Stubbs. “Things I don’t even think about, but, yeah, that’s amazing.”
The banner was carried by fifth-year opposite Jaelyn Hodge. The team captain helped Arizona get to match point with a block assist, but what came before it was even more important.
Hodge led the match with 16 kills despite three other players having more attacks than she did. She tied teammate Journey Tucker and UCF’s Emily Wilson for the second-most blocks in the match with 5.0 total blocks. She added two aces for a match-high 21 points. She also had five digs.
The showing was just one more demonstration of the development that has taken place over the past five years. Her 3.82 kills per set are the most in her career by a considerable margin. She also has career highs in hitting percentage (.236), aces per set (0.16), digs per set (2.16), and total blocks per set (0.64).
In the age of the transfer portal, Stubbs sees something special in Hodge’s journey.
“For me, for her this is really one of the most important things that has taken place because she could have left at any point,” Stubbs said. “Yet she decided to stay invested…She took one for the team, moving to the right side (this year), so that just tells me that there is a lot of love and loyalty there from her. And so, as a result of that, I just want all the great things to happen for her. Watching her develop over the years has been so much fun.”
Senior middle blocker Alayna Johnson has also played a big role during the run. She kept it going on Wednesday with six kills, one dig, and three total blocks. It was the third time in the past five matches that Johnson has had at least six kills. She has hit .300 or higher in all five of those matches.
“AJ always needed that pressure from someone where, if she goes sideways, if she can’t do something, that she could get a moment to breathe and to kind of fight through it and then get better,” Stubbs said. “And so being able to get her on the floor now in those situations has been good for her, so that she could see, ‘Okay, I am good enough to do this. I can do this. I’ve done it in the past. Okay, I got this.’ But that’s the group in general. Any one of the middles could go in.”
As good as the upperclassmen were, freshman Carlie Cisneros was the glue that held everything together.
“The person who was phenomenal to me from beginning to end was Carlie,” Stubbs said. “She did so many great things and never went sideways when something didn’t work the way she wanted it to work. To me, that’s a sign of someone who is invested and understands the value in the role that she plays and that she’s able to impact the game everywhere, and I think that that’s huge. You don’t see that very often for someone at her age.”
Cisneros ended with a double-double. She had 10 kills, 14 digs, 1 assist, 3 aces, and 1 total block.
Jordan Wilson and Avery Scoggins also had double-doubles. Wilson’s consisted of 13 kills and 12 digs. That went with her two total blocks, including one solo block.
Scoggins moved closer to 1,000 career assists with 42. She also had 4 kills on .571 hitting, 1 ace, 11 digs, and 1 total block.
Scoggins needs just 24 assists to reach 1,000. If she does that at Texas Tech on Friday, she will become one of a handful of freshmen to accomplish the feat. She already stands fifth in total assists among Arizona freshmen.
Arizona had strong performances across the floor, but that didn’t mean the match was easy. The UCF Knights fought throughout.
“One of the things I said today…is that they’re not going to give anything to us,” Stubbs said. “They want to take everything from us. How we respond to it is up to us, because our goal is to have our name called for the tournament, and that’s been our focus. That’s our goal.”
Arizona couldn’t afford to drop a match to a team like UCF, which came in at No. 204 in the RPI. Things didn’t look great in the first set, though.
The Knights maintained a slight lead for most of the opening frame. Arizona finally pushed past them late in the first set. Hodge even earned a set point for the Wildcats at 24-23, but UCF scored the final 3 points to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
The second set was another tight one. Arizona had a slight lead for most of it, but UCF was always able to come back and tie it. That ended at 19-19.
Cisneros stepped to the service line and served six straight points, including two aces, as Arizona went on a 6-0 run to win the set and even the match.
The Wildcats kept the momentum from the second set, marching on in the third set. They led by as many as nine points on two occasions. UCF got within four points at 24-20 after saving two set points, but Arizona put the set away on its third set point.
UA needed just one more set to continue its winning streak. It battled to get it.
The Knights’ early 3-0 lead turned into a 4-4 tie. Arizona did not take its final lead until 23-22. The Wildcats won four of the final five points to close out the match.
Despite the match being scheduled at 1 p.m. on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, there were still 1,511 fans in McKale Center to watch Hodge, Johnson, and the other seniors complete their careers at home.
“I just built such close and good relationships with fans over the years, whether that’s been our games or other sporting events, just sad to not see them every week anymore,” Hodge said. “But I’m grateful to have such amazing fans.”
Lead photo courtesy of Arizona Athletics