TUCSON, Ariz. — Despite a comeback towards the end of the regular season, the Arizona Women's Volleyball team was left out of the NCAA Tournament.
"It was probably the most painful moment that I've been in with the team as we just sat there and watched," Arizona Women's Volleyball coach Rita Stubbs said.
The Wildcats closed out the season on a seven-match win streak, their longest win streak since 2001, and went undefeated in non-conference for the first time since 2009.
"Our girls had to learn how to win after last season," Stubs said.
From 8-23 overall last season to 20-9 this year, it's the first 20-win season since 2018.
Stubbs says it's not the time to dwell but to learn.
"It's a matter of now what are we going to do with this," Stubbs said. "This can be something that brings us together or this can be something that divides, and every opportunity is an opportunity to get better."
The next opportunity is hosting the National Invitational Volleyball Championship.
Freshman, Carlie Cisneros, is looking at this opportunity to play with her team one last time.
"We finished conference really well," Cisneros said. "We finished it off really well and it's really important to us to give our seniors the perfect goodbye."
"There's a reason why we're in this position to still make great things happen so what we do with it is more important at this point," Stubbs said.
Arizona has a first-round bye and will play the winner of Pacific and Weber State on Saturday, December 7 at 6 p.m. at McKale Center.
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Erin Patterson is a reporter for KGUN 9. She's agraduate of the University of Alabama with a Bachelor’s in News Media with a Sports Concentration. Erin recently obtained her Master's Degree in Sports Journalism from Arizona State University at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, where she gained experience a sports reporter, anchor and producer. Share your story ideas and important issues with Erin by emailing erin.patterson@kgun9.com.
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