Wildcat Wrap: Arizona football falls to UCLA; soccer and volleyball sweep

It’s Monday, so let’s get you caught up with everything that went down regarding the Arizona Wildcats this past week.

Let us know in the comments if we missed anything.

Volleyball

It’s been a rough last few weeks for UA, but wins over Colorado and Utah over the weekend were the remedies needed for the program.

Riding a four-match losing streak, the 25th ranked ‘Cats (16-6, 5-5 Pac-12) welcomed back Pac-12 kills leader Kendra Dahlke. The senior outside hitter got a concussion last week against UCLA and missed the following game against USC.

Dahlke led in kills for UA against CU as she helped lead UA to the 3-0 win. She also had an ace, too.

Arizona then completed the sweep of the Mountain schools with a 3-1 win over Utah on Sunday.

Dahlke had 21 kills, which marked the 14th time in her career she has had 20+ kills in a game, which ranks her seventh in program history in that category.

However, Dahlke left the match with an apparent leg injury in the fourth set, which will be something to monitor moving forward.

Junior setter Julia Patterson had 44 assists against the Utes.

The ‘Cats welcome the Oregon schools this weekend. UA faces Oregon State on Friday, Oregon on Sunday. UA swept both schools in Oregon last month.

Soccer

Arizona soccer swept the Washington schools, both in rather dramatic fashion. Thursday, Brynn Moga headed in a volley from Iliana Hocking to lift the Wildcats to a 1-0 double overtime win over UW.

Sunday, Amanda Porter netted a laser in the 72nd minute to propel the team to a 2-1 win over Washington State on Senior Day. Moga also scored in the match, scoring her second career goal in as many games.

Arizona is now 10-4-3 overall and 3-3-2 in the Pac-12, putting themselves in terrific shape to reach the postseason.

They have the Oregon road trip (one of the easier treks in the conference) and a rivalry game against ASU in Tempe still on their schedule.

At this point, the only question is whether or not the Wildcats will host the first round of the NCAA Tournament. And right now they are in good position for that, seeing that the top 32 teams host.

Check out our feature on irreplaceable midfielder Kennedy Kieneker, a senior who has been one of the team’s most important players the last four years, even if the stat sheet doesn’t show it.

Softball

We caught up with former ace Danielle O’Toole to talk about her time with Team USA, the Olympics, her coaching career at the University of San Diego and some other things. Check out that interview here.

Fall ball is here, and the ‘Cats are dominating the diamond.

UA was a perfect 5-0 over the weekend in the Arizona Fall Invitational. The final game against Pima College on Sunday was canceled because of weather.

All games ended in the fifth and in shutouts for UA.

Redshirt junior Alyssa Palomino didn’t play in the invitational, however.

Palomino, who has twice torn her ACL in her career, is coming off a sophomore season in which she led the Pac-12 in home runs. She played first base last season after being moved there from the outfield.

In July, she tweeted she is “determined to be in the outfield field again.”

Palomino has been working with outfielders during practice, and the move back to outfield is logical since coach Mike Candrea added Missouri transfer Rylee Pierce, a first baseman, to the team. Senior Joelle Krist is in the mix to play first, too.

Highly-touted freshman pitcher Marissa Schuld saw action in the circle. Schuld, a two-time Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year, pitched one inning Friday against Arizona Western. She had two strikeouts as the ‘Cats won 11-0.

Then on Saturday, Schuld started against Phoenix College and threw five shutout innings, notching eight strikeouts and allowing one hit. UA won 10-0.

Women’s Basketball

Coach Adia Barnes spoke on Friday during media day. She touched on her impressive newcomers, the growing expectations and lots more. The full interview can be watched here.

UA hosts Eastern New Mexico next Monday in an exhibition.

Check out our feature on Purdue transfer Dominque McBryde, whose “old man’s” game will be a big boost to the frontcourt this year.

Men’s Tennis

UA finished the ITA Regionals in Southern California with a 7-3 singles record and 2-2 doubles record. Sophomore Igor Karpovets, sophomore Filip Malbasic and junior Alejandro Reguant advanced to the round of 16 before exiting the tournament.

The team heads up to Phoenix for the Grand Canyon Invitational on Nov. 2-4.

Women’s Tennis

UA tallied five wins on Saturday in day two of ITA Regional play in Tucson. Three singles wins came from sophomore Talya Zandberg, sophomore Gitte Heynemans and freshman Csenge Furak. Zandberg and Furak also had doubles wins.

Football

Not even the Rhett Rod, aka sophomore quarterback Rhett Rodriguez, could piece the Arizona football season together. Rodriguez and the ‘Cats (3-5, 2-3 Pac-12) lost a heartbreaker to UCLA Saturday night, 31-30.

Check out our football section for a bevy of postgame coverage.

But not everything was glum on Saturday for UA. Coach Kevin Sumlin got a commit from Ahina “Rocky” Aitogi. Aitogi is 6-foot-7 and 345-pound offensive lineman, who plays for Fort Scott Community College in Kansas.

Arizona then added safety Jaxen Turner about 12 hours later, a highly-touted safety from Southern California.

The Wildcats did lose cornerback Tim Hough, however.

Quarterback commit Grant Gunnell broke the Texas High School football career passing yards record. He can’t get to campus soon enough.

Men’s Basketball

On Saturday, former UA point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright was selected in the second round of the NBA G-league Draft by the Raptors 905, the Toronto Raptors’ affiliate.

Omar Thielemans was a mystery wrapped in an enigma when he committed to the ‘Cats as he was an off-the-radar type of commit. The mystery attached to the Belgian grows as it was announced on Wednesday that is transferring from UA without ever suiting up from the program.

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