Home at Last! Arizona Volleyball is set for McKale Home Opener

Finally, a home game in the Desert as the Arizona Volleyball team hosts the No. 11 Washington Huskies in McKale Center for their 2021 home opener.

In what is likely to be the second weekend of three-straight against Top 15 ranked opponents, the Arizona Volleyball program welcomes No. 11 Washington to town for the first home game in the McKale Center since November 30, 2019. The Wildcats come home after dropping a pair of hard-fought sweeps to No. 10 Utah, while Washington enters McKale off of a home split against Arizona State last weekend.

Scouting the Huskies

This year’s version of the Washington Huskies will be led on the court by Samantha Drechsel who set career highs last Saturday with 21 kills and 18 digs against Arizona State.

Ella May Powell will direct the offense coming off of a 51 assist performance on Saturday as the Huskies opted for the 5-1 offensive attack. Shannon Crenshaw will likely once again hold down the backcourt for Washington coming off of a 20 dig performance on Saturday.

Arizona Wildcats

Led once again by head coach Keegan Cook who is in his sixth season in Seattle, the Washington Huskies look to be a force to be reckoned with in the Pac-12 yet again this year.

Wildcats Newcomers set to Lead the Charge again

Led last week by Dilara Gedikoglu and Sofia Maldonado Diaz, the Wildcats will very likely lean once again on a strong 2019 recruiting class again this week as both look to feature predominantly again for the Wildcats. Also coming off solid opening performances against Utah are fellow freshmen Emery Herman who seemingly took hold of the setting reigns on Sunday and Jaelyn Hodge who also took a big leap forward Sunday afternoon. With 8 newcomers (5 Freshmen, 3 Transfers) the Wildcats showed that they are going to be a work in progress as they roll through the delayed 2020 season.

Another player to watch for this weekend is senior Paige Whipple, as last season she tallied 32 kills, and had a hand in 4 blocks in two matches against the Huskies in 2019.

Projected Starters

Arizona:
(S) Emery Herman
(OH) Paige Whipple
(OH) Sofia Maldonado Diaz
(OPP) Dilara Gedikoglu
(MB) Zyonna Fellows
(MB) China Rai Crouch
(L) Kamaile Hiapo

Washington:
(S) Ella May Powell
(OH) Samantha Drechsel
(OH) Claire Hoffman
(OPP) Madi Endsley
(MB) Lauren Sanders
(MB) Marin Grote
(L) Shannon Crenshaw

How to Follow:

Friday: (TV) Pac-12 Washington/ Pac12.com/live (Login required)

Saturday: (Stream) Pac12.com/live (FREE)

Stats: Arizonastats.com

Arizona Wildcats