It was a must-win match for Arizona volleyball. If the Wildcats hope to salvage their chances at an NCAA Tournament berth, they could not drop their final match to Cincinnati. To make the occasion even bigger, it was senior night for four Arizona seniors. It took a team effort, but the Wildcats did it with a 3-1 (25-21, 21-25, 25-23, 25-12) victory in McKale Center on Friday afternoon.
The Wildcats needed the talents of the senior leaders and those who will stay behind after the season. Senior outside hitter Jordan Wilson has carried a lot of the offensive load this year, but sophomore Carlie Cisneros let the fans know that the Wildcats will still have offensive firepower next year when Wilson moves on to the pros.
Arizona also had big contributions from its freshman right side, sophomore setter, sophomore libero, and two junior middle blockers.
“It is everything,” head coach Rita Stubbs said. “Because it’s like, okay, I was able to do this in this situation. I’m used to it. Kind of like us going to the NIVC last year. In years past, they would always ask, when do we get to go home in December? When do we get to home in December? No one asked me that question this year, which is exactly what you want. So we’re getting the culture built the way that we want it.”
Both of Arizona’s starting outsides had double-doubles. Cisneros led the team with 19 kills on .286 hitting. She added 16 digs and led the team with 19 points. Wilson had 16 kills to go with 20 digs while hitting .250. She also had an assist, a service ace, and one block assist.
Cisneros showed a great deal of variety in her shots. Early in the match, she seemed to find most of her success going line. Later, she started hitting cross court and even had some big shots from the back row.
“They did, like, a half rotate, and we definitely talked about it,” Cisneros said. “And then we started seeing it more that second, third set, and we really took advantage of it until they made the change.”
The Wildcats also got big contributions from junior middle blockers Journey Tucker and Sydnie Vanek. Tucker had eight kills on .538 hitting and four total blocks (one solo). Despite playing just two sets, Vanek ended with seven kills on .333 hitting, six total blocks (one solo). The pair tied with 10.5 points.
On a night when Arizona’s block came up big, it was freshman right side Renee Jones leading the way. Although she didn’t play the whole match, Jones had a match-high nine total blocks, including one solo. She added six kills to end third on the team with 11 points. She also threw in two digs.
All of Arizona’s seniors got in on the act. Giorgia Mandotti came in as a serving specialist. Haven Wray was a defensive and serving sub. They notched one dig and four digs, respectively.
“Renee got in there and got some good blocks,” Stubbs said. “Gio went on a serving run. And the difference that Sydnie made when she went in was huge.”
Ana Heath played as a serving sub, a right side, and even entered as the setter for one point. She had two kills and a dig, but it was her booming serve that came up biggest. Heath served two aces at critical points for the Wildcats.
“That was huge,” Stubbs said. “I wanted to find a way to make sure she got a lot of time on the floor, because you want to honor your seniors as best you can. And she was doing well.”
Arizona was solidly in control of the first set, but Cincinnati has shown itself to be a game team under first-year head coach Danijela Tomic, who coached Bowling Green against Arizona in the NIVC final last year. They didn’t go away.
The Bearcats came back to take set two with a strong run in the middle of the set. Arizona led at 11-7 when UC went on a 9-2 run to take control. The Wildcats got within a point on a few occasions, but the visitors leveled the match with a 25-21 victory.
The third was another tight set. Cincinnati led by three a few times early on, then Arizona came back to tie it at 10. The final tie came at 23-23. Cisneros got the kill to give Arizona set point, then Jones and Tucker put it away with a block.
The Wildcats raised their game radically in the fourth. They started on a 3-0 run and never trailed. Tomic tried to stem the tide with a timeout at 7-3 and another at 15-8, but the floodgates had opened. Arizona had five runs of three or more points. It had two five-point runs separated by a single UC point.
It could have been a night that overwhelmed the Wildcats. Last week, Stubbs said she felt the pressure go to the team a bit at Utah. Not this time despite the tournament being on the line.
“I think the telltale sign of the fact that we were relaxed is how we came out in set four,” Stubbs said. “If we were uptight or whatever, we wouldn’t have been able to respond the way that we did.”
Now, their hopes are in the hands of the committee. Arizona had decided long ago that it would not compete in the NIVC this year. Enough other teams made the same decision and the event has been canceled for 2025. So, the Wildcats’ only hope is that they reach the goal they set at the beginning of the season: to break the NCAA Tournament drought that stretches back to 2018.
“We have the right resume,” Stubbs said. “And if we listen to what they told us last year, our preseason wasn’t competitive enough, even though we had a high RPI. We got a more competitive preseason. We won the matches that we were supposed to win, then we still got the significant wins within conference play. And with the conference being the highest RPI, I would think that all those things are favorable to us, but at the end of the day, I’m not in that room. I hope that people are speaking on our behalf.”
Jordan Wilson spent three years with the Wildcats after transferring back to her home state following a freshman season at USC. She was drafted by the Grand Rapids Rise of Major League Volleyball earlier in the week.
“It was so exciting,” Wilson said. “I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. It was first time I ever watched it. Actually, it was a really cool process. It was a lot longer than I expected, but seeing all the girls, especially the ones who I have grown up with and like played against, especially in clubs, seeing them get drafted and picked, it was really cool to see their names get called. So it was a fun process.”
Haven Wray spent five years at Arizona, including a redshirt season her first year in Tucson. She finished her bachelor’s degree in finance last year and came back to work on a graduate certificate.
”I definitely knew if I didn’t come back, I would regret it, because there’s always those what-ifs, and I think I definitely grew a lot as a person,” Wray said. “I’m proud of myself for sticking it all the way and, taking every single year of eligibility, every opportunity. So it’s been fun. I mean, this group of girls, especially, I think we have grown so close.”
Ana Heath showed her versatility on senior night, but it’s something she did for four years at Arizona. She has been a serving sub, a setter, and an opposite hitter over her college career.
“I’m so thankful to play college volleyball, and have the experience I have had,” Heath said. “Tucson is great. I love the community, the people, the campus is beautiful. Love my teammates. Being able to just get my degree and wrap it up here just means a lot, and being here for four years, I feel like that doesn’t happen often. People staying. So I’m glad I was given that opportunity.”
Giorgia Mandotti has only been at Arizona for three years, but she will graduate with a degree in finance. The Italian national may not be done with college volleyball, though.
“I’m very excited, because these may be not our last matches,” Mandotti said. “So we’ll see how this week goes. And I’m very excited of what this team can do. And I’m very emotional because I don’t know if I can stay another year. We’ll see what happens.”
