Volleyball 08/28/2019 Arizona Athletics

Arizona Wraps Up Cactus Classic vs. Samford on Saturday

CACTUS CLASSIC
AUG. 30-31 • McKALE CENTER

ARIZONA (2-0)	APPALACHIAN STATE (1-1)	SAMFORD (0-2)	LOYOLA MARYMOUNT (1-1)
Roster	Roster	Roster	Roster
Schedule	Schedule	Schedule	Schedule
Stats	Stats	Stats	Stats
Notes	Notes	Notes	Notes
Twitter	Twitter	Twitter	Twitter

THE GAMES

DATE	TIME	MATCHUP/RESULT	LINKS
Friday, Aug. 30		Arizona 3, Appalachian State 0	Recap • Box Score (PDF)
Friday, Aug. 30		Loyola Marymount 3, Samford 2	Box Score (PDF)
Friday, Aug. 30		Appalachian State 3, Samford 2	Box Score (PDF)
Friday, Aug. 30		Arizona vs. Loyola Marymount	Recap • Box Score (PDF)
Saturday, Aug. 31	10 a.m.	Loyola Marymount vs. Appalachian State	Live Stats • FloVolleyball.tv ($)
Saturday, Aug. 31	12 p.m.	Arizona vs. Samford	Live Stats • Pac-12 Live Stream (free)

Tickets • Clear Bag Policy • Promo Schedule

CATS TO OPEN 2019 SEASON WITH CACTUS CLASSIC

The 2019 season is here and the Wildcats are set to kick off the campaign with the Cactus Classic, welcoming in Appalachian State, Loyola Marymount and Samford for the two-day, six-match event at McKale Center, Friday Aug. 30 and Saturday, Aug. 31.
The Cats open the event on Friday vs. Appalachian State (10 a.m.) and Loyola Marymount (7 p.m.) before concluding the Classic on Saturday vs. Samford (12 p.m.). The full schedule can be found on page 1.
Arizona went 3-0 at last season's Cactus Classic, needing the minimum nine sets to defeat Lipscomb, San Diego State and Pacific.
Promotions: All fans will receive complimentary admission to Arizona's match vs. Appalachian State ... On Friday night vs. Loyola Marymount, all fans will receive the 2019 Arizona Volleyball poster and season ticket holders may pick up their Season Ticket Holder Gift (ROOF! t-shirt) ... Following Saturday's match vs. Samford, fans are encouraged to stick around for a post-match autograph session with the team.

QUICK HITS

Following its fifth trip to the NCAA Tournament in the last six years and 29th overall, Arizona returns four starters plus its libero and 11 total letterwinners from last season's 22-win team.
The Cats return the large majority of their core from last season; of the eight players that played 100-or-more sets last season, seven of them are back in 2019. Of UA's 2018 team totals, the Wildcats return 62% of their kills (1,065 of 1,733), 99% of their assists (1,566 of 1,584), 86% of their digs (1,652 of 1,919) and 83% of their individual blocks (378 of 458).
Arizona has won 7-of-its-last-8 season openers, including a sweep of CSUN (25-17, 25-14, 25-19) in Sacramento, California last season. In Coach Rubio's 27 previous seasons at Arizona, the Wildcats are 66-18 (.786) on opening weekend. Last year, UA went 3-0 in the season-opening Hornet Invitational.
Head coach Dave Rubio enters his 28th season as the Wildcats' head coach. Last season, Rubio became the second coach in Pac-12 history to surpass 500 victories as a league coach and enters 2019 with a career record of 512-321 (.615) at Arizona.
The Wildcats are ranked 24th in the preseason AVCA Top 25, marking their third season in the last five that UA has began the season ranked. Arizona, which finished 2018 ranked 25th, has now been ranked in 12 consecutive AVCA polls and has been ranked 326 weeks all time, 10th most in the NCAA.
Arizona will play the nation's top-two preseason teams (No. 1 Stanford and No. 2 Nebraska) as well as four other ranked Pac-12 teams (No. 11 Oregon, No. 14 Washington, No. 14 USC and No. 22 Washington State) this season.
The Wildcats were picked sixth in the Preseason Pac-12 Coaches Poll. UA will look to finish in the top half of the Pac-12 for the second straight season after its fifth-place finish a season ago. Defending national champion Stanford is the conference favorite followed by USC, Oregon, Washington and Utah.
The Cactus Classic features four teams that won a combined 84 matches a season ago, three of whom advanced to the NCAA Tournament. LMU, an at-large team from the WCC, lost in the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament after an opening-round sweep of Duke, Arizona, an at-large team, and SoCon champ Samford, both lost in the first round.
Arizona returns four seniors, all of whom have played significant roles throughout their careers. Between the four of them -- three four year players and one second-year transfer -- they have combined to play 1,007 sets in their careers, led by three-year starting middle blocker Devyn Cross (316) and three-year starting defensive specialist (freshman) and libero (sophomore/junior) Makenna Martin (306).
The Cats return a pair of honorable mention all-conference players from a season ago in setter Julia Patterson, who led the Pac-12 in double-doubles (20) and was fourth in assists/set (10.74), and middle blocker Devyn Cross, who was one of two players in the league to have more than 2.0 kills per set (2.06), 1.0 block per set (1.03), while hitting better than .360 (.361).
Devyn Cross and Julia Patterson were named all-conference honorable mention. Cross is third in the Pac-12 in hitting percentage (.370) and Patterson is second in total assists (1,316).

APPALACHIAN STATE MOUNTAINEERS (2018 » 22-9)

Team Notes: Appalachian State returns 12 players from last season's 22-win team, including four starters and its libero ... The Mountaineers went 13-3 in the Sun Belt last season, good for a Sun Belt East championship ... Appalachian State was picked to finish second in the Sun Belt East Division while Emma Longley, Emma Reilly and Kara Spicer were named Preseason All-Sun Belt.
Head Coach: Matt Ginipro (12th season; 186-187)
Series History: This will be the first ever meeting between Arizona and Appalachian State.

LOYOLA MARYMOUNT LIONS (2018 » 21-10)

Team Notes: After a second-round appearance in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, Loyola Marymount is receiving votes in the preseason AVCA Top 25 ... LMU was picked fourth in the WCC Preseason Coaches Poll ... Three Lions -- Tess Reid, Megan Rice and Savannah Slattery -- were named to the preseason all-conference team.
Head Coach: Aaron Mansfield (3rd season; 37-23)
Series History: Arizona 3, Loyola Marymount 1
Last Meeting: 9/20/2008; Arizona 3, Loyola Marymount 0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-19); Los Angeles, Calif.

SAMFORD BULLDOGS (2018 » 19-15)

Team Notes: Samford, the 2018 Southern Conference Champions, was picked to repeat to win the league title this season ... The Bulldogs will need to replace their setter and team leader in kills, but have preseason all-conference players Lauren Deaton and Kelsi Hobbs will look to step up this season.
Head Coach: Keylor Chan (4th season; 53-47)
Series History: This will be the first ever meeting between Arizona and Samford.

RANKINGS

Arizona begins the season ranked No. 24 in the AVCA Top 25, marking the third season in the last five that UA has been in the preseason poll.
The Wildcats have now been ranked in 12 consecutive AVCA polls and have been ranked 326 weeks all time, 10th most ever in the NCAA.
The Pac-12 has six teams ranked in this week's AVCA Top 25.

DOMINANT DEVYN

2018 honorable mention AVCA All-American middle blocker Devyn Cross returns for her senior season with high expectations, looking to build on what was a breakout junior campaign.
Cross averaged 2.06 kills, 1.03 blocks and hit .361 last season, becoming the first Wildcat since Jolene Killough in 2004 to post a 2.0 kill/1.0 block/.350 hit% season and just the fifth Wildcat all-time to do so. She was one of two players in the conference to achieve the three marks.
The Edwards Air Force Base, California native enters her senior season with 303 career blocks, 41 shy of joining the Arizona career top-10.
Cross hit .361 last season, eighth best hitting percentage in school history, and is hitting .313 for her Arizona career. That currently ranks fifth in school history.

SETTING THE TONE

Setter Julia Patterson returns for her senior season, looking to build on an all-conference honorable mention junior campaign, when she led the Pac-12 in double-doubles (20) and was fourth in assists/set (10.74).
Last season, Patterson became the ninth player in Arizona history to surpass 2,000 career assists and enters 2019 ninth in school history with 2,388 career assists.
In her two seasons as UA's starting setter, Patterson has finished in the top five in the conference in assists/set both years. As a junior in 2018, Patterson finsiehd fourth in the league (10.74) and as a sophomore in 2017, Patterson finished fifth (10.14).

BIG SHOES TO FILL

While Arizona returns the majority of its impact players from a season ago, UA will lose a huge source of offense on the left side with departed senior Kendra Dahlke, who led the Pac-12 last season, averaging 4.77 kills/set.
UA will turn to Paige Whipple, who finished second on the team in kills last season (3.13/set) and Katie Smoot (2.24 kills/set) as well as Elizabeth Shelton, who missed the final 11 weeks of 2018 with a concussion as well as sophomore Whittnee Nihipali, to step up on the outside.

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