Arizona volleyball’s Jaelyn Hodge, Haven Wray announce future plans

Arizona head coach Rita Stubbs encouraged former Wildcat star Jaelyn Hodge to announce her future plans after the NIVC championship game. Hodge was eventually convinced.

“I just signed with Puerto Rico, so I’m gonna be playing there,” Hodge said.

Hodge didn’t provide the name of the team at that time. Her team finally announced her signing on Thursday evening. She will play for Valencianas de Juncos.

The team plays in the seven-team Liga de Voleibol Superior Femenino (LVSF). It is located in the city of Juncos, about 35 miles outside San Juan.

While the league started in 1968, the team has only been around since 2004. It won a league title in 2007. It went 11-12 in the 2024 season, finishing fourth.

The 2025 season begins on Jan. 2 and will run through May 4. It will consist of 24 matches.

Hodge ended her Arizona career as the program leader in sets (585) and matches (148) played. She had a career-best 3.79 kills and 4.33 points per set her final season. Her .239 hitting percentage was also the best of her career. Other career bests were her 0.18 aces, 2.17 digs, 0.14 assists, and 0.68 blocks per set. She ended it all as the MVP of the 2024 NIVC.

Hodge is not the only one whose plans became clear on Thursday. The other player will have an impact on next year’s team.

Senior libero Haven Wray has been trying to decide what she would do next year. She and Stubbs had to figure out if returning to Arizona could work.

“Freshman year, that was really hard for me, but now that I have a fifth year, it’s been the biggest blessing in disguise, because I have grown to love volleyball so much more over the years,” Wray said back in October. “So I think I really do want to take it. I would love to take it here. I just need to figure out my master’s program. I graduate in December. So really, I just need to figure out my schooling and how that can work and with money and figure all that stuff out.”

Apparently the money and schooling parts were figured out. Wray told David Kelly of Wildcats Radio 1290 that she would return for her fifth season next year.

The days of “covid years” are over for the vast majority of players. However, old-fashioned redshirts still exist. Wray did not play her freshman season. Now, she gets to stick around and have her fourth year on the court.

It’s a big relief for Stubbs, who has been saying since early in the season that she wanted Wray to return.

That still leaves Arizona with some needs. The Wildcats will welcome freshmen Brookelyn Hatton, Maya Flemister, and Chloe Giehtbrock in January. They might also have freshman Renee Jones in the fold by then. They will not have Paige Thies for the spring. There will probably be a learning curve for most of them even if they are able to enroll early. Giehtbrock will redshirt her first year.

The biggest needs for next year’s team are an experienced opposite to replace Hodge’s production and an experienced middle blocker to help make up for the losses of Alayna Johnson and Kiari Robey.

Arizona will probably carry the maximum number of players next year. Under the roster limits that are supposed to be in place, that number is 18. The team had 16 for most of the 2024 season.

With Wray’s return and the five incoming freshmen, they would have four liberos/defensive specialists, six pins, three middle blockers, and three setters in 2025. That assumes that the 10 other players who are eligible to return choose to do so.

Lead photo by Catherine Regan / Arizona Athletics