The old adage goes, “third time is the charm.” But no one wants that to come to fruition during the NCAA Tournament.
No matter the sport, there is something inherently exciting about playing a foreign team from a far-off land, like Oklahoma or Mississippi.
Instead, the Arizona Wildcats women’s volleyball team had to face a familiar foe — Washington — for the third time this season in Friday’s regional semifinal. The Huskies ended Arizona’s deepest playoff run in a decade with a 25-15, 25-22, 25-18 victory.
“I mean, there were girls on that team I played against even before college, and everyone had each other’s numbers,” said sophomore Kendra Dahlke, who led the team with 14 kills. “To meet for a third time in postseason, they were familiar with our offense, knew where our weaknesses were, and also where our strengths were.
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“With Michigan State, they didn’t really know what to expect with us.”
Arizona surprised the ninth-ranked Spartans in the second round with a well-balanced offensive attack. The Huskies sniffed out Arizona’s plans in the round of 16.
“Washington is a really good team, and I think coming into the match, they were probably better prepared for the offense we were running,” Dahlke said. “They were camping out on me and (outside hitter Kalei Mau), and did a really good job of defending our hits.”
Arizona coach Dave Rubio could see it happening before the match even started.
The two Pac-12 teams played after a thrilling match between host Nebraska and Penn State that Rubio described as “the best atmosphere I’ve ever seen.”
Then the home fans started trickling out, and the once-rocking arena was a ghost town. It wasn’t just the lack of a crowd that sapped Arizona’s energy.
“The thing that happened — Thursday, we had a 90-minute practice, and we had the best practice all year,” Rubio said. “We were as good from an execution standpoint as we’d been all year long. Friday morning, we’re doing our serve-and-pass, and it was like someone switched the light off. We completely had lost our mojo. It was weird.”
Perhaps it was just the daunting task of playing the 20-4 Huskies for the third time, but either way, the Wildcats were lacking.
And now they will lack more: Arizona graduates a group of seniors who combined for 83 wins in their four years, the most for a Wildcats’ class since 2003. The biggest piece Arizona will have to replace is senior setter Penina Snuka, though libero Laura Larson and Mau’s absence will be looming, too.
“The legacy those guys left will be felt in our program for years to come,” Rubio said. “That’s what I take away from the seniors this year. The standards they set, every day I’m teaching the kids how to handle business every day. How to be an elite program, or an elite player.”
Dahlke will be a big piece of the puzzle next year, as will setter Julia Patterson and middle blocker Devyn Cross. Rubio’s recruiting has been on an upswing in recent years, as evidenced by the win total of the recently departed senior class and the team’s eighth Sweet 16 birth in the last 24 years.
“Players like Kendra, Julia Patterson, Devyn Cross — we have a terrific young group of players who are hungry to follow up what the seniors have done,” Rubio said. “Not only do we have a terrific incoming group of freshmen, but the core group is hungry to repeat what we did this year.
“And the only reason we have a chance of doing that is because of what the seniors left.”
