Arizona volleyball drops heartbreaker in 5 sets at Colorado

Arizona volleyball had the chance to start Big 12 play off with a bang on Sunday afternoon in Boulder, Colo. The Wildcats ran off to a 2-1 lead against Colorado only to have the Buffaloes come back for the 3-2 (25-20, 20-25, 20-25, 25-22, 15-6) victory.

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“We had our chances,” said Arizona head coach Rita Stubbs.

The Wildcats started well in four of the five sets. They played CU close in the first set, but the Buffs eventually pulled away enough to ensure the five-point win.

That seemed to get Arizona going. The ‘Cats ran off to 4-0 leads in each of the next three sets. They had 5-0 leads in both the third and fourth. They easily maintained their leads in the second and third frames. It was the fourth that turned into a problem.

UA went up 7-2 in the fourth set, then Ana Burilovic came up to serve for the Buffs. Her first two serves were the peculiarities of volleyball where a serve dribbles over the net and results in an ace. The third was a solid ace. The three straight points made it a 7-5 set and seemed to take some of the air out of Arizona’s sails.

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Fourth and fifth aces followed soon after, with both coming off the serve of setter Jenna Ylivainio. The five aces in the fourth accounted for over half of CU’s nine for the match.

“Granted, the two that trickled over the net, no one banks on that, but we weren’t ready to make a play on it either, which is the frustrating part,” Stubbs said. “Then the fourth one happened when they served cross court. It’s just like we got to be better in that situation.”

Stubbs said that Arizona also did not adapt to some of the adjustments that Colorado made in the fourth. The Buffs started playing Sydney Jordan in the back row.

“She was a back row threat, and so there was six rotations of being an option, even though I think they set her once,” Stubbs said. “And then we got lax when 11 was back there, knowing that she’s their go-to player.”

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Colorado is the kind of team Arizona needs wins against if it hopes to make the tournament again. They came in ranked No. 21 and hovering in the mid-40s of the unofficial RPI. Just playing them improved Arizona’s position by 20 spots. A win could have pushed them into the top 100 when the official RPI comes out next week.

“That’s the focus behind it,” Stubbs said.

Arizona had good outings by its pins. Three of the four had double-digit kills and three of the four hit .250 or better. Both outside hitters had double-doubles.

Carlie Cisneros led the way with 18 kills. Her four aces and one total block gave her a team high 22.5 points. She added 10 digs for the double-double and also contributed three assists.

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Destiny Ndam-Simpson has had some ups and downs in recent weeks, but she had a strong outing in Boulder. She had 16 kills on .308 hitting and added 14 digs for the double-double.

Stubbs made a change in the setter/right side combination that started the match. Typically, Kennedy Osunsanmi starts at opposite and Maria Olga Siapani is the first setter. On Sunday, it was Renee Jones at OPP and Harmony Sample at setter. All four handled the change well.

Osunsanmi’s numbers weren’t affected by coming off the bench. She was the third Wildcat with double-digit kills. She had 13 kills on .545 hitting. She also had three digs and one total block.

Jones contributed five kills on .250 hitting without an error. She added four total blocks, including one solo, for 7.5 points. She also had four digs. The total blocks led the team.

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Sample had Arizona’s third double-double with 23 assists and 10 digs. She also had an ace.

Stubbs was pleased with the work of her pin hitters, but was more concerned about the lack of production for her middles. As a group, they had 11 kills but hit just .185. They were set 27 times out of 163 attempts for the Wildcats.

Marina Vosloo was the most productive of the trio. The freshman came in early for Kristen Dear and contributed six kills on .333 hitting, three total blocks (one solo), an ace, and two digs.

“I’m looking at these numbers, and we didn’t get our middles involved nearly enough,” Stubbs said. “So that’s part of it. In order for us to be deemed a good team, a competitive team, a team that’s going to go out there and try to compete to win, we got to be able to put the ball in different hands at different time.”

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The match against Colorado ended a streak of nine matches on the road for Arizona. The Wildcats finally return home to play Iowa State and Texas Tech next week before heading back out on the road for three straight.