Talent development gives hope to the U of A Wildcats volleyball team

The Wildcats have signed the seventh-best recruiting class in the country, according to PrepVolleyball – a group of newcomers led by outside attacker Carlie Cisneros from Liberty North High School near Kansas City, Missouri. PrepVolleyball has named Ciscneros the top recruit in the country.

“I liked that it was a college community and I liked the coaching staff here,” Cisneros said of her decision to come to Tucson. “I wanted to go somewhere where I could make an immediate impact and earn a spot on the court, and I thought the U of A would be a great place to start something.”

Since Signing Day in November, the Wildcats have signed several additional freshmen and transfer players, including middle blocker Kiari Robey from Florida State. Before playing at FSU, the All-ACC second-team player was at Oregon.

Second-year head coach Charita Stubbs said Arizona needs players who can change the culture of the program.

“When we were recruiting the young ladies, one of the things I wanted them to know how to win,” Stubbs said. “I wanted them to win at their high school, win at club level, be All-American, be Gatorade Player of the Year, because that’s not something we’ve focused on as much in the past. … So I knew we had to bring in people that knew how to win to change the culture and believe that we were winners. Because we had the guys that were athletic enough, they just needed to learn how to play the game better.”

UA lost two starters and its libero from the 2023 team. This includes outside hitter Sofia Maldonado Diaz, who transferred to Louisville for her fifth year. Maldonado Diaz is fourth in UA history in career aces (144) and eighth in career kills (1,393).

Last year, UA went 8-23 overall and 3-17 in its final Pac-12 season. The Wildcats started the season 0-2 at home and 0-4 in the conference, causing many sleepless nights for Stubbs, who not only served as an assistant or associate head coach at Arizona for 19 seasons, but also led NC State from 2006-09.

“It was tough. Part of it was because I was really selfish for a moment because every other coach in the conference and across the country was getting their first win and I kept thinking, ‘When am I finally going to win? When am I finally going to win?'” Stubbs said. “That was the wrong mindset.

“That was probably my downfall when I was head coach before – I thought that way – so I had to put all that aside and go back to basic principles because one of the things I can say about last year is I don’t feel like we ever had a bad practice.”

Big 12 coaches selected Arizona to finish 12th in the 15-team league. Outside attacker Jaelyn Hodge, a five-year player at UA, was selected to the 2024 Big 12 volleyball preseason team.

Arizona has appeared in the NCAA Tournament 29 times, but not since 2018. UA has been to the NCAA Tournament in 14 of Stubbs’ 19 seasons as an assistant.

“I haven’t been to the tournament since I’ve been here,” said senior middle blocker Alayna Johnson. “This is definitely our year, this is definitely the year I want to make it to the tournament, and I want to make it to the end of the tournament.”

Last year, seven Big 12 teams made the NCAA Tournament, even though Texas has since moved to the SEC. Last year, five Pac-12 teams made the Big Dance, including new Big 12 team ASU.

In addition to coaching at the UA, Stubbs played for Arizona in the Pac-10 era in the early 1990s.

“I have a love-hate relationship with it. I’m a Pac-10 baby, so I didn’t want it to go away. Maybe it’ll come back, I’m not sure,” Stubbs said. “But every day will be a new day. I’m excited to go to the Big 12.”

“There are no expectations going in there, so you’re not playing Stanford, which I guess everyone knows, or the LA schools and so on and so forth. So it’s exciting to go into a conference that’s just for us and any player can go in with no prior knowledge,” she added.

• All Arizona home games will be broadcast on ESPN+.

• In the Big 12 this year, the Wildcats will play 18 games in 10 weeks, playing 10 teams once and four schools twice. Conference rivals Arizona will see twice include BYU, Utah, ASU and Colorado.

• Arizona is 323-444 in 36 seasons in the Pac-12. The Wildcats have a 130-95-1 record against the current Big 12, including wins over ASU, Baylor, Colorado, Houston, Kansas State, TCU, Texas Tech, UCF, Utah and West Virginia.