Digging Into Arizona Volleyball as they prepare for 2021 Spring Season

With the Arizona Volleyball season right around the corner, let’s take a deep dive in areas to keep an eye on this year for a team lean on returnees.

2021 is in full swing, and that means it’s time for the first of two Arizona Volleyball seasons of the year which for fans of Wildcats Volleyball, is a wonderful thing. Dave Rubio brings back four players from the 2019 squad that went 15-17 overall, so there will be a strong need for newcomers to keep the pace in certain areas, and immediately look to provide an improvement in others.

The Wildcats will be led in the Spring once again by senior Paige Whipple on the outside, with junior Zyonna Fellows likely taking the reins as the top Middle Blocker.

Arizona Wildcats

On the defensive end, we will likely see juniors Malina Kalei Ua and Kamaile Hiapo duel it out for the Libero spot, with the other filling the top Defensive Specialist spot for the Wildcats.

Coach Rubio will then lean on the 7th ranked recruiting class in the nation to fill in the gaps for his Wildcats after losing 4 of the top 5 attackers from the 2019 squad, and most importantly to fill the setter role.

The net game was not an issue for Arizona in 2019

In 2019, we largely saw the Wildcats controlling the net as they both out hit (.234-.220) and out-blocked (233-224.5) their opposition, however, they only return 36 percent of their attack, and 44 percent of their blocking in spring 2021.

While the offense in 2019 was led by Whipple, she did only manage to hit at a .197 clip, which will likely see a decent improvement if she is able to quickly build a rapport with the new setters to the squad. Fellows will also likely see a nice boost to her hitting game as after she only appeared in 80 of 117 sets last season, she will likely see much more consistent reps in 2021.

New Wildcats to keep an eye on this Spring:

Dilara Gedikoglu a sophomore transfer from Turkey who led the way with 17 kills in the Red-Blue Game. Would expect to see her get the first run out opposite of Whipple in the rotation. Comes to Arizona via Transfer from Tulsa, where she was AAC Freshman of the Year and First-Team All-AAC. Averaged 4.1 kills/set for Tulsa. Before coming stateside, Dilara was part of the renowned Turkish side Galatasaray.

Junior Merle Weidt paced the Wildcats with seven blocks in the Red-Blue Game. The native of Offenburg, Germany Weidt likely joins the Wildcats rotation as a transfer after spending two seasons with Rutgers in the Big 10. Merle averaged over a block per set in her time as a Scarlet Knight. She also was a member of the German Youth National team, featuring in over 70 matches for her native program. Before coming to the United State, Weidt spent four years in Germany with VC Olympia Berlin.

Setting a wildcard, but backcourt looks sound going into 2021

Led in 2019 by Julia Patterson who paced Arizona with 1151 assists, her departure leaves a large hole for the incoming recruiting class to fill, as Patterson was the only Wildcat with over 100 assists on the year.

The top returning Wildcat in assists is likely to be the libero for 2021 in Kamaile Hiapo who dished out 97 assists in 2019. With Hiapo and Malina Kalei Ua running the backcourt for the Wildcats, Rubio will likely look to a newcomer to direct the offense.

Luckily, this should not be too much of a concern for the Wildcats, as what appears a position of need for the Wildcats may become the strong point for the Wildcats as the season progresses with a pair of strong candidates to start at setter.

A redshirt senior out of Fort Worth Texas, Akia Warrior brings a strong collegiate resume to Tucson following a three-year run with Belmont. Warrior directed Belmont’s offense last year leading the Bears with 525 assists averaging just under 6 assists per set. With strong Tucson ties and the daughter of an All-American Volleyball player, Warrior will likely bring a lot of great intangibles to the Wildcats in 2021. I would expect to see Rubio feature Warrior quite a bit in the early going as the need to start strong is great if these Wildcats have dreams of going dancing in the NCAA Tournament this spring.

The other likely option for the Wildcats would be in Freshman Emery Herman of Georgetown, TX. Rated as the No. 68 recruit in the nation, Herman was an AVCA third-team All American in 2019 and was also named to the 2018 JO 16 Open All-America Team. Herman led the way in the Red-Blue game with 35 assists, showing what could be a very special future as a member of the Arizona Wildcats.

Needless to say, the setter will come out of Texas in 2021, and Rubio has a pair of amazing choices, and could potentially turn to a 6-2 offensive set running both as right-side hitters and setters as both setters are 6-feet-1-inch which could create for matchup nightmares for opposing defenses.

Unique schedule on deck for the Pac-12

The 2021 schedule is set to open up on January 22nd, however, the Pac-12 has yet to release the schedule at the time of writing. Arizona will still likely play every team in the conference, however, instead of a home and home set up, they will instead play to back to back’s with the same teams over a given weekend.

We couldn’t be more excited to see the Volleyballs fly again! Bear Down, Arizona!