Arizona Volleyball hosted its annual Red-Blue scrimmage at the McKale Center at ALKEME Arena on Saturday as the team gears up for the start of the season. Head coach Charita Stubbs divided the roster into two teams, placing the more experienced players on Team Blue, while a majority of the program’s newcomers landed on Team Red. But despite the experience on Team Blue, it was Team Red that pulled off the 3-1 upset in front of 350 or so fans at McKale.
Team Blue won the first set (25-20) before Team Red came clawing back to win three straight sets (27-25, 25-18, 15-10).
The Red Team had the edge in kills (56-35), assists (53-35), and digs (85-64), while the Blue Team won the block battle (16-6). After the match, Stubbs said she was impressed by her younger team’s fight.
“You want to see a team that plays without any fear and just goes out and do their job, and great things can happen. And then the Blue side, I think, they got a little tight and didn’t allow themselves to play. You know, Ryan [Windisch] said that his philosophy for the Red side was just to not give them forced errors and let the Blue team mess up, and that’s exactly what happened.”
One opportunity highlighted by Stubbs – the team’s 17 combined serve errors.
“We have to be able to serve the ball in the court, you know that goes without saying. There is a philosophy, if you just go after it as hard as you can, eventually it’ll go in. But we were missing balls that were way too long; that there was not a chance that it was going to go in. So for me, it’s about serving and passing, and then everything else will come.”
Team Red was led by Creighton outside hitter transfer Destiny Ndam-Simpson, who finished with 17 kills in just two sets, and Hayden Reeder, who had 12 kills. Maya Flemister also made her presence felt defensively with a pair of blocks. Junior setter Maria Olga Siapani recorded 41 assists and 21 digs in her Wildcat debut, and Hayden Reeder and Brenna Ginder contributed 16 and 15 digs, respectively.
Britt Carlson led Team Blue with 11 points, recording a team-high six blocks in three sets, while senior Journey Tucker added another five blocks. Carlson, Ndam-Simpson, who switched to Team Blue after two sets, and Carlie Cisneros each led Team Blue with seven kills apiece. Cisneros also had a team-high 15 digs.
After the match, Ndam-Simpson said she’s hoping to become a leader on and off the court for the Wildcats this fall as she continues to get more comfortable in Stubbs’ system and Tucson.
“I think it’s leading by example, working hard, and setting the standard not only for myself, but others, and working to use my voice more. It’s not something that I’m super comfortable with, especially in the new environment, but I think that will come with time as we continue to play together.”
Arizona returns to the floor on Wednesday, August 19 at 5:00 PM MST for an exhibition match against GCU.