TUCSON, Ariz. -- Arizona volleyball fell in a five-set heartbreaker on Saturday afternoon on senior day at McKale Center, dropping a marathon of a match with Arizona State (25-18, 11-25, 26-24, 20-25, 17-25).
The Wildcats and the Sun Devils went back and forth all afternoon, trading sets in front of a season-high 2,006 fans at McKale. Arizona State won sets one and three, Arizona won sets two and four and the Sun Devils delivered the final blow in the fifth after a coach's challenge took victory out of the hands of the Wildcats.Â
Arizona appeared to have won the match in the fifth set, as an Arizona State attack on the Wildcats' match point sailed long, but after the Wildcats celebrated a victory, Arizona State challenged the point to have it reversed to turn the 15-13 final to a 14-14 tie in the fifth. ASU went on to win, 17-15 in the fifth.
The loss ended the Wildcats' season with a 15-17, 5-15 Pac-12 record and ended the careers of six seniors, the four healthy of whom had excellent matches in their career finales.
Julia Patterson had 48 assists and a season-most 17 digs, good for her 16th double-double of the season, second most in the Pac-12. The senior added a career-most six blocks, four kills and an ace in the match. Patterson's 48 assists give her 3,539 assists in her Arizona career, which moved her into sixth place in Arizona history.
Devyn Cross had 11 kills and six blocks in her final match; her six blocks gave her 403 for her career, making her the eighth player in Arizona history to reach 400 career blocks.
Makenna Martin had 18 digs and five kills and
Emi Pua'a posted eight digs, four assists and an ace.
In addition to Patterson moving into sixth place in UA history in career assists and Cross recording her 400th block, two other Wildcats hit major milestones in the match.
Kamaile Hiapo led the Wildcats with 20 digs, giving her 378 this season, the new Arizona freshman record; she passed Candace Nicholson's 2010 mark of 370 during the third set on Saturday.
Paige Whipple led the Wildcats with 24 kills, and gave her 1,017 career kills. Whipple's seventh kill, which came in the second set, was kill No. 1,000, making her the 18th player in school history to reach to mark, but just the seventh to do so during her junior season.
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