Arizona head coach Rita Stubbs said that Texas Tech was competitive at home, but the Red Raiders came into Wednesday afternoon’s match against the Wildcats with just one conference win and an RPI of 152. Besides, it wasn’t a competitive match. TTU went on huge runs to sweep UA 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-23).
While serve receive was a major problem for the Wildcats, every part of their game seemed off. On several occasions, free balls were sent over by the Raiders only to have Arizona send the attack sailing out of bounds.
Texas Tech had seven aces in just the first set. The Raiders ended with 11 against just four service errors. They also outhit Arizona .316 to .204. They had 45 kills to Arizona’s 34. They had 49 digs to 35 for the Wildcats. They outblocked UA 6-5.
Jordan Wilson got 14 kills for Arizona on .273 hitting, but no other Wildcat got more than four. Sophomore middle blocker Adrianna Bridges was the most efficient of the team with an .800 hitting percentage. Freshman right side Renee Jones was also fairly efficient with .400 hitting. Both had four kills without committing a hitting error.
The loss could haunt the Wildcats severely when it comes time for the selection committee to pick the field for the NCAA Tournament. Arizona came in with an RPI of 44 and a KPI of 54. The team had not lost to anyone outside the top 40 of the RPI. Their worst loss came to No. 38 Washington.
Texas Tech entered the match at 9-12 overall. Seven of the Red Raiders’ wins and one of their losses came against teams outside the top 150. It was a match that Arizona should have won and that it needed to win.
Instead, TTU came out and dominated the Wildcats from the first serve. The Raiders led wire-to-wire in both of the first two sets and Arizona didn’t even reach 20 points. The biggest lead in the first set was 10 points at 22-12 and nine points at 10-1 in the second.
The Wildcats cut the lead to two points in the second set on a few occasions. The final one came at 19-17, but it never felt like they were going to take over. They scored only one more point in the set to let TTU take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Arizona’s first lead of the match came at 1-0 in the third. Its last lead came at 3-2 in that set. Texas Tech was quickly up 8-3.
The Wildcats finally lit some fire under themselves down 24-18 and on the brink of being swept. They saved five match points until a service error ended it at 25-23 in the third.
It was one of just four times in the match that Arizona won more than two points in a row. The team won more than a single point just 11 times.
Stubbs tried different lineups to see if she could get some offense going. In the third and final set, she had freshmen Maya Flemister and Jones on the floor to start the frame, as well as junior reserve middle blocker Sydnie Vanek. She also brought in freshman outside hitter Paige Thies and freshman setter Chloe Giehtbrock at various points in the match.
It was a disappointing outing for Arizona after they played a relatively solid match against No. 6 ASU last Saturday. They also beat a ranked Baylor team at home and a solid Kansas State team on the road. It made the collapse against the Red Raiders all the more puzzling. They now have to regroup to play No. 13 TCU at home on Friday evening.
Arizona has plenty of time to make up for the loss. There are eight more matches left in the regular season. There is a lot of work to do to repair the damage done by the loss if the Wildcats hope to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018, especially after Stubbs said she did not think they did what they needed to in the nonconference season.
