Middle blockers help Arizona volleyball stay perfect with first road win - Arizona Desert Swarm

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Serving has been the biggest weakness for Arizona volleyball in the early part of the season. It was again on Thursday evening, but the Wildcats’ middle blockers rose to the occasion and helped the team stay perfect with a straight-set (25-20, 25-16, 25-13) victory over Alabama State.

Seniors Kiari Robey and Alayna Johnson joined sophomore Journey Tucker to combine for 16 kills and just one error against the Hornets. Robey accounted for 10 kills on a .600 hitting percentage. She added two blocks (one solo) to tie for the match high with 12 points. Tucker had five kills on nine swings without an error. Johnson threw in one more kill on three swings without an error.

It was one of the things that Arizona head coach Rita Stubbs pointed to as an improvement over the Wildcats’ first three games.

“I thought the middles, in general, did a much better job,” Stubbs said. “So that made me excited.”

The serving, however, was not improved. Last weekend, Arizona piled up service errors in two of its three matches. There were no offsetting aces to mitigate that. The only time the Wildcats had a positive aces-to-errors ratio was against VCU when they served 10 aces to just five service errors.

UA reverted to form against the Hornets. Arizona added 15 service errors while serving just five aces. It now has 44 service errors against 22 aces in four matches this season.

“We spent so much time talking about serving that I was disappointed in how poor we served overall,” Stubbs said. “And then we get aced four times. So that is frustrating in itself, as well. Can’t get serves in and get aced. Many times, a more physical team capitalizes on that better than, unfortunately, they could.”

The serving errors helped keep the Hornets in the first set and part of the second. The Wildcats failed to string two points together until they tied it at 7-7 in the first set. They didn’t win more than two points in a row until the final three points of the set.

It wasn’t just one player who struggled at the service line. Four different players had at least two service errors led by Ava Tortorello with three and Carlie Cisneros with four. Both Brenna Ginder and Jaelyn Hodge had two.

Some players overcame those difficulties as the match progressed. Giorgia Mandotti was subbed in for Hodge to serve and promptly put it into the net. When Arizona was ready to wrap up the match, Mandotti stepped up.

“Carlie missing four and Ava and Brenna missing two is not normal,” Stubbs said. “But then ran out of options on it. Gio missed her first serve when she went in, but when she got to go back around, she did well. She served us out.”

Cisneros had difficulties in several areas for the first time in her young career. The freshman not only had four service errors, but she was not efficient on the attack. She had six kills on .188 hitting. On the positive side, she offset her four errors on serve with two aces. She also had an assist and seven digs.

In addition to Robey, Arizona got a strong offensive outing from Hodge. She amassed her 12 points on 12 kills. She hit .455 with just two errors and 22 attempts. She also had an assist and three digs before being removed in the third set for Tortorello and Amanda DeWitt.

“When you take Jae off, you have to use two bodies for what she does,” Stubbs said. “So that opens it up for a little bit to use Amanda in the front row. Then you have to use someone else in the back row. So that’s why, whenever Jae comes off, it’ll be two. Jordan comes off, it’ll have to be two people to do her role as well.”

Arizona started to enforce its superior athleticism and power on the Hornets about halfway through the second set. With the score tied at 13, the Wildcats went on a 12-3 run to increase their lead to 2-0.

They were even more dominant in the third set. The Hornets took the first three points, but the Wildcats responded with a 4-0 run. The Hornets tied it 4-4 and 8-8, but they never led again.

UA improved to 4-0 on the season. Alabama State fell to 3-1.

Arizona will take the court again on Friday, Sept. 6 at 1 p.m. MST. The Wildcats will face the Prairie View A&M Panthers. The match will stream on Hornets Sports Network. The service requires a fee of $15 for one match or $20 for a one-month subscription that allows access to all streamed events.

Lead photo by Madison Farwell / Arizona Athletics