Losing a starting position can be difficult, especially for a senior who has spent most of her career in the opening lineup. She still needs to be ready when her number is called. Arizona middle blocker Alayna Johnson would know.
Johnson was one of several Wildcat reserves who found her way onto the court to help lead the team to a 3-1 (25-15, 19-25, 25-22, 25-20) victory over Cincinnati. Johnson had eight kills on 11 swings without committing an error in two sets. She added one total block.
Johnson’s .727 hitting percentage was a match high. She had a match earlier in the year when she hit 1.000 but that was just one kill on one swing. The .727 percentage was the second-best of her career when she had at least five kills. It trailed only the .778 she hit against Utah last season.
Junior outside hitter Jordan Wilson had a historic match against then-No. 8 Kansas last week, earning the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week award. She started the same way against the Bearcats on Thursday, but she couldn’t maintain it.
Wilson began to struggle in the second set. It became especially pronounced as the Bearcats started targeting her on their serve more often.
“It was a combination of things across the board,” Arizona head coach Rita Stubbs said. “One thing led into the other. So, you know, she’s working to calm herself down and put herself in a position, but things just weren’t working…for her, and as a result, it was nice that we had the depth.”
Wilson ended the night with nine kills on .143 hitting, but she didn’t play after early in the third set. She also had four digs and one total block.
Sophomore Sydnie Vanek came in for Wilson and had a positive impact, especially in the early going. Vanek had five kills in two sets of play, but the errors started to creep in the longer she was on the court. Her first three kills came on three swings, but she ended with three errors and 15 swings to get her five kills. That dropped her hitting percentage to .133.
“It was nice knowing that I could go to the bench and get some people to get in there when Jordan was struggling offensively and whatnot,” Stubbs said. “But the comfort came in knowing what we’ve been working on in practice, seeing the results of that made it easier to make that decision a little bit sooner.”
Senior defensive specialist Ava Tortorello got back onto the court. She had been out with injury since September. Her last match was against New Mexico State on Sept. 14. Exactly two months later, she stepped back on the court to play the back row for both Wilson and Vanek.
While the depth helped relieve pressure for the team, the starters still did the heavy lifting. Freshman outside hitter Carlie Cisneros and senior middle blocker Kiari Robey had superb nights.
Cisneros notched her seventh double-double of the season with team highs in kills (13) and digs (19). She also had one solo block, two aces, and an assist. She ended with 16 points.
Robey narrowly missed a double-double. Hers would have been of a far less common variety. Robey accounted for 11 kills on .529 hitting and added nine blocks. Four of her blocks were solo. She also had an ace and a dig. Her 18.5 points led the match.
The nine blocks are the most that Robey has had at Arizona. She had double-digit blocks three times at Florida State last year.
Robey and Johnson joined sophomore middle blocker Journey Tucker to score 20 kills on 34 swings. The trio committed just one hitting error, ending with a .559 hitting percentage for the group.
“It was something that we talked about because of the way that Cincinnati runs their defense, that if our girls just listened to what we were saying, they would be able to find success in the middle court,” Stubbs said. “But a lot of that is because they were often making themselves available, as well as Avery (Scoggins) understanding what was in front of her. So I thought that was a good combination of teamwork.”
Jaelyn Hodge rounded out the group of Wildcats with double-digit kills. The fifth-year opposite had 10 kills, eight digs, and four total blocks.
Stubbs played 12 of her 16 players. All appeared in at least two sets.
The Wildcats dominated the first set. They trailed at 1-0, but that was the only deficit they faced in the opening frame. The last tie came at the 2-2 mark. They used runs of 5-0 and 4-0 to build a lead that stretched to nine points on several occasions. Hodge got the final kill to give Arizona a 10-point victory and one-set lead.
UA started out well in the second set, going up by three points on three occasions. Cincinnati came back to tie the set at six points each. The Bearcats started pulling away shortly after. Their biggest lead was eight points. The Wildcats trimmed that to four, but UC went back up by six to end the set and even the match.
The Bearcats had an early five-point lead in the third set. Arizona finally reeled them back in to tie the set at 12. The final tie came at 17-17, but the Wildcats never trailed again. The victory put UA one set from the win.
The fourth set remained tight until the 9-9 tie. Arizona put their noses in front then slowly started to increase the lead. The Wildcats’ biggest lead was seven points at 20-13. The Bearcast could get no closer than four points after that. Cisneros put an end to it with her 13th kill.
Arizona has won two straight for the first time in Big 12 play. The Wildcats improved to 15-9 overall and 4-9 in conference play. The four conference wins are an improvement over the three total victories they had in the Pac-12 last season.
Cincinnati dropped to 13-11 overall and 4-9 in Big 12 competition.
The Wildcats leave Cincinnati on Friday morning. They will board a bus to ride to Morgantown, WV where they face WVU on Sunday morning.
Lead photo by Madison Farwell / Arizona Athletics