Arizona Volleyball finishes season on a high note, awaits Postseason fate

No. 23 Arizona Volleyball (22-10, 11-9) finishes the year strong, knocking off ASU again, but now awaits its postseason fate!

It’s been a great year for Arizona Volleyball! It’s tough competing in the deep and Pac-12 conference, but regardless the Wildcats have their largest win total since 2014.

Initially starting the year 8-0, we just needed to wait for conference play to see just how good this team was.

Arizona Wildcats

Over the course of the season, they surely didn’t disappoint. Every night, the Wildcats competed, getting some key victories along the way.

Well, on Saturday, Arizona would need to compete once more, this time against their hated rivals, ASU. Clearly being the better squad, regardless, the Wildcats would need to show up at Well Fargo Arena.

From the start, it looked like it would be a good day for the Cats. In the first match, Arizona jumped out to a quick, 7-4 lead. ASU would respond, rallying to get it back to nearly even at 7-6, but a 15-3 run by the Cats would really open this one up.

The Sun Devils would get a couple points back, but after a few timely volley’s, Arizona would be within one point of stealing the match at 24-12. A kill by Kendra Dahlke would be this one away for good as she soared over the net to spike it down, delivering Arizona the 25-12 victory in the first set.

Carrying that same energy, it would be all Arizona again in the second match. Quickly the Cats paced themselves to a 7-2 lead, before ASU would begin to respond. Slowly, the Sun Devils climbed their way back in, trailing 10-6.

Both squads would essentially go tit-for-tat for points over the next few series, as ASU would again pull within five at 16-11. Luckily, the Wildcats would suffocate their rally from then on, closing out the match on a 9-6 run to win the second set 25-17.

Hoping to escape Tempe with a quick win, the third set would be a much hotter contested match. From the get go, both teams would be neck and neck for points. Just as ASU took the lead at 3-2, they would again go ahead 5-4.

Just as Arizona would pull ahead, then it would be ASU, then it was Arizona again. This would continue to happen, until the Cats finally pulled away what seemed for good in this one at 20-19.

The Sun Devils would tie it at 20-20, but that would be the last time, as Arizona closed out the third set with a 25-23 victory! The set win also gave Arizona the overall match victory at 3-0!

Dahlke would of course lead the way on Saturday with 11 kills, meanwhile outsider hitters Paige Whipple and Candice Denny added with 10 and eight kills of their own respectively. Arizona’s Julia Patterson would lead the way with 30 assists, and Devyn Cross had a game-high of five blocks in this one!

The win improved the Wildcats’ record to 22-10 (11-9), also giving Arizona their second victory over ASU on the year! Their win over ASU was also their fourth straight over the Sun Devils.

Now Arizona will await to learn its postseason fate. The Wildcats will likely make the tournament after finishing fifth in the Pac-12 overall!

At Zona Zealots, we’re proud of the way the Wildcats competed, especially as it came in another win against ASU! Bear Down, Arizona!