TUCSON - The Arizona volleyball team opened 2016 with a four-set loss to Kansas State on Friday night in Honolulu, Hawaii (21-25, 16-25, 25-20, 18-25).
The Wildcats struggled with 14 service errors and 30 attack errors, hitting just .122 on the night.
"We lost this match in serve and pass," said Rubio. "Too many serving errors. Too many receiving errors. They were better than we were tonight."
Seniors
Kalei Mau (19 kills, 10 digs),
Penina Snuka (32 assists, 7 digs) and
Laura Larson (13 digs) played well in the match, but the Cats were never able to rebound from the sloppy play against a veteran team coming off two straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
Mau led the way with her 12th career double-double. Her 19 kills were a match-high and one shy of her ninth career 20-kill match.
Sophomore
Kendra Dahlke posted her fifth career double-digit kill effort, totaling 11 kills on just 22 swings. Sophomore
Jade Turner impressed in her first career start, needing just nine kills to post five kills.
Kansas State won the battle at the net, outblocking Arizona 14-6. Freshman
Devyn Cross led Arizona with three total blocks in her Wildcat debut.
Arizona was rusty early on, posting just an .088 hitting percentage in the opening set, falling 25-21 to Kansas State. UA had nine attack errors, three service errors and a block error, handing Kansas State 13 unearned points.
Kalei Mau picked up where she left of in 2015, posting four kills on just 10 errorless swings.
It was much of the same in the second set as Kansas State overwhelmed Arizona, dominating 25-16.
Arizona was strong out of the gate in the third and used Kansas State errors to swing the momentum in its favor to get back into the match. KSU, which entered the set with five total attack errors, had 11 errors in the set, including four Wildcat blocks, as UA won the set 25-20.
Despite yielding just six kills in the fourth set, Arizona fell 25-18 to drop the match. Arizona handed KSU 13 points with attack errors, as the Cats hit -.024 in the frame.
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