Arizona Athletics Weekly Recap: August 25-August 31
By Vince Senick
Arizona fall sports are in full swing now, minus a few teams who start within the next week or two, and the teams are having some nice success early in the season. Wildcat fans saw football and volleyball start their season this past week and watched the women’s soccer team continue their season with the home opener. Lets take a quick look at how the Arizona fall sports teams did this past week.
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Women’s Soccer
There was just one game on the schedule for the women’s soccer team this week and it was the home opener against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks on Thursday. The Wildcats dominated the entire game, but could not seem to find the back of the net, until the 87th minute when Leeandra Smith put her first goal of the season in the back of the net. Goalkeeper Gabby Kaufman did not face a shot on goal and recorded her second shutout to start the season.
Record this week: 1-0
Record this season: 2-1
Women’s Volleyball
The women’s volleyball team got their season started this week in Green Bay, Wisconsin at the Green Bay Tournament. The team started off the tournament on Friday against South Dakota winning their first match of the season 3-1 (25-20, 20-25, 25-20, 25-19). On Saturday the Wildcats returned to the court to face tournament host Green Bay and Kansas State. Arizona took care of business winning both matches without dropping a set. They defeated Green Bay 3-0 (25-15, 25-12, 25-21) and Kansas State 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 26-24) to win the tournament and start off the season 3-0.
Madi Kingdon was named the tournament MVP after compiling 64 kills, 33 digs, eight blocks, four aces, and two assists, recording her first two double-doubles of the season. Joining Kingdon on the all-tournament team was Ronni Lewis, who compiled 46 digs and 15 assists, and Penina Snuka who recorded three double-doubles after compiling 116 assists and 45 digs this past weekend.
Record this week: 3-0
Record this season: 3-0
Football
Last, but certainly not least, was the football team getting things started this past week. What a game the 50,000+ fans were treated to, at Tucson Stadium, as the Wildcats routed the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels 58-13 Friday night. The offense exploded for, a school record, 787 yards of total offense and the defense was good enough to hold the Rebels offense to only 13 points.
Redshirt freshman QB Anu Solomon enjoyed a record breaking night throwing for 425 yards and 4 touchdowns, both Arizona freshman records. Two RBs, Terris-Jones Grigsby and Nick Wilson, both topped 100 yards on the night for the first time in their careers. Two WRs, Austin Hill and Samajie Grant, both recorded over 100 yards through the air and were two of 10 receivers to catch a pass Friday night. The Wildcats were very impressive Friday night, but still have some things to clean up before conference play begins September 20.
Record this season: 1-0
Arizona Athletics Record to Date (9/1): 6-1
An undefeated week for Arizona athletics and a 6-1 start to the fall sport season is a good start. All three teams are back in action this week as women’s soccer heads to Tempe for the Sun Devil Classic and will face #7 Texas A&M and Oklahoma State.Women’s volleyball hosts the University of Arizona tournament and will face Alabama State, Loyola Chicago, and CSUN this upcoming weekend. The football team will be traveling to San Antonio to play Texas-San Antonio at the Alamodome.
We will also get the cross country season started on Saturday, September 6, so another team will be ready to make Arizona athletics proud.
Check back next Monday for a full recap of the upcoming weeks athletic events.