Arizona Volleyball Completes Sweep of the Pacific Northwest

Arizona Volleyball (14-2, 3-1) bounces back in a big way from their loss to Stanford, sweeping the Oregon schools on the road.

Nearly a week after steamrolling ASU and battling with Stanford, the Arizona Volleyball team bounced back in a big way this past weekend.

The Pac-12 Conference slate continued for the Wildcats as they took to the court to take on No. 12 Oregon in Eugene on Friday.

Arizona Wildcats

From early on, you could see that this one was going to be a tough one. The Wildcats came out swinging in game one, stealing the first set by a 25-23 final. The second set was much tougher as the Ducks seemed to control the set from start to finish, ultimately winning that one by a 25-16 final.

Much-like prized fighters, the two squads would continue to exchange sets. The Wildcats used another strong performance in the third set, stealing that one 25-23, but dropped the fourth set in a close set that went to the Ducks 25-22.

Tied at 2-2 for the match, and needing to win the fifth and final set, the Wildcats would Bear Down in this one.

Arizona would jump out to an early 6-3 lead, but unfortunately Oregon would find a way to climb back into this one. Exchanging points for the rest of the set, Arizona would finally come away with the 16-14 win to take the match by a 3-2 final!

Senior outside hitter Kendra Dahlke would lead the way for Arizona with 26 kills, and sophomore Middle Blocker Candice Denny would also finish with 13 kills herself. Setter Julia Patterson would also finish with 58 assists.

Going for the weekend sweep for the first time since 2010, the Wildcats would have a much easier go in their Sunday game against Oregon State.

From the start you could tell it was going to be a dominant performance. Arizona came out strong, stealing the first set 25-18. The second set would be even worse for the Beavers, as the Wildcats took it to them, winning by a 25-13 final.

The Wildcats would enter the third set with a 2-0 lead and a chance to complete the sweep. For the third-straight set, Arizona would battle, but the Beavers wouldn’t go quietly in this one.

Exchanging points for much of the third set, Arizona would take the lead at 5-4 and essentially not look back. Despite Oregon State’s best effort to keep it close, the Wildcats would pull away, securing the 25-22 victory, as well as the overall match victory!

This time Paige Whipple would lead the team with 18 kills and Dahlke added with 14 of her own. Patterson of course led the way for Arizona’s attack, accounting for 39 assists.

With the win, Arizona improves to 14-2 (3-1) on the season, and have a little break before returning to action on Friday against the Washington Huskies, before completing the weekend series with Washington Sate on Sunday.

At Zona Zealots, we are happy the Wildcats continue to do exceptionally well and are anxious to see how they perform this week! Bear Down, Arizona!