Arizona volleyball is ready to dig deeper this season

This season is about seeing just how far that momentum can take the Wildcats.

After last year’s 17-13 season, including the program’s first NCAA Tournament win since 2016, the Wildcats have no interest in slowing down as they look to turn last year’s success into something bigger.

Building on that momentum, the Wildcats have been hard at work. The team is training twice a day, watching film, logging lots of individual work and strengthening their ties to the community by participating in a scrimmage against Ironwood Ridge High School for the first time since 2017.

But the most important development over the past year has been the added depth provided by several newcomers to an already talented roster of veterans.

Now, the Tucson community will get its official first glimpse of the team at the Red-Blue Scrimmage at McKale Center at Alkeme Arena on Saturday. The Wildcats' face-off begins at 2 p.m.

Following Saturday’s scrimmage, the Wildcats will participate in two exhibition games before the regular season starts. Arizona will face GCU at home on Aug. 19 and New Mexico on the road on Aug. 22.

These three preseason matchups are essential groundwork for what’s to come, according to Arizona head coach Charita Stubbs.

“I feel like we're at a good place to do a barometer check to see where we are, then to go work on some things, and then you have another match as a check, and then do some things, and you have another match as a check before you have to get into the thick of things,” she says. “I think that these exhibition games and this Red-Blue Scrimmage are something that we definitely need as prep because every match (this season) is going to be important. We don't get to sit back and say, ‘Oh, we can take this one off, or it's not that big a deal.’ And so, getting these three matches in before we actually start our conference is huge.”

Arizona begins its season on Aug. 29 with the Wildcat Classic at McKale Center. The tournament, which includes Prairie View A&M, Tarleton State and UC Santa Barbara, wraps up on Aug. 30.

Then it’s a full month of travel for the Wildcats as they take on ranked programs like Creighton and USC on the road.

As fall and conference play roll around, Arizona will face even more ranked programs, which Stubbs expects to be some of the more challenging matches of the season.

But challenging isn’t always a bad thing.

“I think that having that Big 12 challenge keeps things fresh and exciting and something to strive for,” Stubbs says. “I think it’s a lot of things that are going to be obstacles for us, but it’s how you actually look at the obstacles; I look at it as all preparation versus something that we can't overcome and the fact that we have depth makes life breathable.”

Something that could benefit the Wildcats, especially in tougher matches this season, is community support.

One of Stubbs’ goals is to see more of that this season.

“I’ve seen Tucson show up for softball forever, men’s basketball forever, football’s fun, so people go. But even then, we can get more people in those stands. Let’s go do it,” she says. “And I watch what Adia (Barnes) did for women’s basketball and what Becky (Burke) is continuing to do. And in my head, I can’t figure out why we can’t get a consistent 3,000 people in here. …

“We’re fun to watch. It’s exciting. It is more exciting, I’ll admit, when you know who the people are. And so we’re presenting ourselves as much as possible to be out there and having the players talk about it all the time. It’s like, all right, community, let’s come in here and support what we’re doing. Buy a season ticket. That definitely helps. But I would rather see you in the stands versus the seats being empty.”

However, Stubbs’ main focus this season is what transpires on the court and how Arizona can return to the NCAA Tournament and go further than it went last season.

After taking down South Dakota State, 3-1, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season, Arizona fell to Stanford, 3-1, in the second round, ending its tournament run and closing the collegiate volleyball chapter for a couple of key seniors.

The next chapter of Arizona volleyball includes a few new faces, like transfers Maria Olga Siapani (setter, UAlbany), Harmony Sample (setter, Notre Dame), Kristen Dear (middle blocker, Howard), Britt Carlson (opposite hitter, UCF), Kennedy Osunsanmi (opposite hitter, San Diego), Destiny Ndam-Simpson (outside hitter, Creighton) and Payton Woods (outside hitter, Virginia Tech) to its lineup this year.

Incoming freshmen include Gigi Whann (libero, defensive specialist), Hayden Reeder (outside hitter) and Marina Vosloo (middle blocker).

You “can’t tell who the new players are,” Stubbs says, adding that her team always does a “phenomenal job” of welcoming newcomers.

It may be a simple gesture, but it’s a small way that the team camaraderie translates on and off the court into success.

Making “sure that each player is in a good place academically, volleyball-wise, and just life in general, because volleyball is a small portion of your life. It seems like it's do or die for this period. But I want them to be good women, and at the end, I'm going to be invited to the wedding,” Stubbs says jokingly.

When the new team steps on the court of McKale Center for the first time this season, Tucsonans can expect one thing from them, according to Stubbs: giving their best in all areas.

“Academically, athletically, and out in the community, it's like putting on a good display because we appreciate those who watch us and support us, and everything is about community in Tucson,” she says. “So it’s about giving back and just putting our best foot forward.”