Traversing a difficult road, the 2014 Arizona volleyball team excelled well beyond expectations in what was a season to remember for head coach Dave Rubio.
On Aug. 6, Arizona volleyball was selected to finish ninth in the Pac-12 in a vote of the conference’s coaches. Four months and 24 victories later, the Wildcats wrapped up one of their most successful seasons in school history.
Consider that all that Arizona accomplished in 2014 – 24 overall victories, third place conference finish, NCAA Tournament host and four victories over ranked opponents – came in perhaps the best year for any conference in NCAA volleyball history.
Consider that a record 10 Pac-12 teams received NCAA Tournament bids. Consider that on Nov. 17, the Pac-12 made up nearly 40 percent of the AVCA Top 25 (9 of 25), the most of by a single conference all-time. Consider that the Pac-12 Champion, Stanford, spent the final 13 weeks at No. 1 in the poll.
Through one of the most difficult roads, Arizona persevered, finishing third in the conference, its best Pac-12 finish since 2005.
Entering the campaign, Arizona faced departures of three key players from the 2013 season. Libero Candace Nicholson, who dug more balls than anyone in school history, graduated. However it was unexpected departures of Jane Croson (2.91 kills/set) and Olivia Magill (1.96 kills/set, .335 hitting percentage, 1.16 blocks/set) that left the Wildcats with plenty to replace.
Instead of replacing the voids externally, the current Cats took it upon themselves to come together and step up as one. Led by an authoritative senior class, UA did just that, using chemistry, attitude and work ethic to prove the clichés correct.
The Wildcats excelled defensively, using their resiliency as their primary asset. Arizona led the Pac-12 in digs, averaging 17.87/set. In addition to libero Ronni Lewis providing 4.18 digs/set, setter Penina Snuka (3.97/set) and outside hitter Madi Kingdon (3.54/set) excelled defensively, making it incredibly difficult for opposing offenses to score on UA’s scrappy defense. Opponents hit just .182 against Arizona in 2014.
Offensively, Kingdon and fellow outside hitter Taylor Arizobal upped their game to supplement the departures. Both upped their kill totals by nearly a kill/set each from 2013. Meanwhile, sophomore Ashley Harris broke through in a big way, going from eight total kills in 2013 (in 75 sets) to 218 kills (in 102 sets).
In 2014, Kingdon put an exclamation point on one of the greatest careers in school history. When it was all said and done, Kingdon played more matches (129) and sets (451) than anyone in Arizona history. She finished her career second in both career kills (1,943) and career digs (1,366). Her 111 career 10-plus-kill matches (including all 34 matches in 2014) are more than anyone to ever wear an Arizona uniform.
Kingdon’s triumphs were not the only ones rewriting the Arizona record books, UA’s defensive efforts also will be etched permanently into UA history. Entering 2014, in the entire 36-year history of the program, there had only been 10 100-plus-dig matches in Arizona history, only one of which occurred in the last 14 years. This season – in fact, over Arizona’s final 13 matches of the year – Arizona had four matches in which it crossed the century mark in digs. Against Oregon State on Nov. 16, UA dug 113 balls, tied for the fifth most digs in a match in school history and second most ever in a four-set match. UA also had two 109-dig matches and one 106-dig match.
Individually, there had been just six 30-plus matches in school history. In 2014, the Wildcats had three such matches, two by an outside hitter (Kingdon) and one by a setter (Penina Snuka). Kingdon had two matches with 20-plus kills and 30-plus digs, the only two in Arizona history.
UA began the season 15-2, tying its best start in school history. In the tremendous start, the Cats went 2-1 against ranked teams, defeating No. 19 ASU on Sep. 24 and No. 20 UCLA two days later. During the entire the season, the Wildcats defeated four ranked opponents, the most since 2009.
In full, Arizona won 23 regular season matches, going 23-9, its best record since 2005. The Cats went 12-8 in the Pac-12 and finished third in the conference. Arizona concluded the regular season ranked No. 14 in the AVCA poll, its best finish since 2005.
For its tremendous regular season, Arizona was rewarded a host site in the NCAA Tournament and the No. 11 overall seed. It marked the first time Arizona hosted NCAA action since 2002. The tournament appearance was Arizona’s 17th in head coach Dave Rubio’s 23 seasons at Arizona and 25th appearance overall.
In its pod, Arizona drew BYU, the highest AVCA-ranked team (12th) to not receive a national seed. The Cats fell to the Cougars in four sets in the second round. BYU would go on to win the Seattle Regional to advance to this weekend’s final four in Oklahoma City.
The individual accolades poured in for the Wildcats throughout the season, led by Kingdon’s massive haul of recognition. Kingdon, who was named to the Preseason all-Pac-12 team, was named the conference’s offensive player of the week in the first week of the season. Later in the year, Kingdon was named one of 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award, the winner will be announced next week.
Kingdon and Snuka were each named all-Pac-12 as well as AVCA All-Region. The two are still in the running for AVCA All-America, announced next week.
On the all-conference team, Arizobal was named to the honorable mention while McKenzie Jacobson was selected to the all-freshman honorable mention.
In addition to Kingdon’s week 1 recognition by the conference, Jacobson (Defensive Player of the Week – week 5) and Snuka (Defensive Player of the Week – Week 12) received weekly Pac-12 nods in 2014.
Laura Larson, a molecular and cellular biology major, posted a 4.00 GPA and was named second-team Capital One Academic All-District and first-team Pac-12 All-Academic for her work in the classroom. Rachel Rhoades and Ashley Harris were second-team selections on the conference’s academic team while Jacobson was honorably mentioned.
The 2014 Arizona Wildcats excelled on the court because of the attributes that made them great off the court. Their togetherness, resiliency and mental toughness bred success between the lines, but are transcendent qualities that will make this group of players special for long beyond their time in Arizona uniform.
