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Taking Stock: How Arizona Wildcats volleyball is looking under Rita Stubbs

The offseason is here, with all of Arizona’s sports done for 2024-25 season and the 2025-26 campaigns still a little ways away. Which makes this a great time to step back and see how all of the Wildcats’ programs are doing and how they’ve handled the move from the Pac-12 to the Big 12 Over […]

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The offseason is here, with all of Arizona’s sports done for 2024-25 season and the 2025-26 campaigns still a little ways away.

Which makes this a great time to step back and see how all of the Wildcats’ programs are doing and how they’ve handled the move from the Pac-12 to the Big 12

Over the next few weeks we’ll take a look at each of the UA’s men’s and women’s athletic programs to see what shape they’re in and what prospects they have for the near future. We’ll break down each team and evaluate how it is performing under its current coaching staff, looking at the state of the program before he/she arrived and comparing it to now while also evaluating how that program fits into its new conference.

First up: Rita Stubbs’ volleyball program

How it looked before

After the retirement of former head coach Dave Rubio in January of 2023, Stubbs has since led the program. Her first season was one that most would like to forget.

The Wildcats finished with an 8-23 overall record and 3-17 in their final season in the Pac-12.

Inconsistency in serve receive as well as setting doomed Arizona for most of the season. One of the few highlights came from star senior Sofia Maldonado Diaz who led the team with 396 kills. Maldonado Diaz would transfer to Louisville for her final season.

Stubbs would fill the leadership vacancy by combining the experience of another senior in Jaelyn Hodge as well as bringing in the number one overall recruit in Carlie Cisneros.

Going into its first season in the Big 12 with so many unanswered questions and unknowns was not ideal, yet Stubbs took the opportunity by the horn.

Where things stand now

This past season started off strong with a perfect non-conference record at 11-0. However, reality hit when the Wildcats went on the road to Baylor and TCU, where they took back to back losses.

It was an uneven start to the Big 12. Arizona secured a home win against No. 20 BYU, but would then lose its next four ranked matchups. It was part of a five-game losing streak.

Then, Arizona would catch lightning in a bottle. After a key win against No. 8 Kansas at home, the Wildcats would end the regular season on a seven-game winning streak.

This gave Arizona a small chance at earning a spot in the NCAA tournament. Unfortunately, those dreams would not come to fruition.

The Wildcats did manage to make the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC). They would also be a host team for the tournament.

After wins against Pacific, Wyoming, and Northern Colorado, Arizona would host Bowling Green for the tournament championship.

Going the distance, Arizona would pull off the win in five sets, giving Stubbs her first postseason championship as the Wildcats’ head coach.

Arizona’s season started and ended in 11-game win streaks.

Looking ahead to this upcoming season, two of the three leaders in kills come back for the Wildcats. This includes Cisneros, as well as senior Jordan Wilson, who led Arizona last season.

Arizona also brings back the four-time Big 12 rookie of the week in setter Avery Scoggins.

Big 12 vs. Pac-12

It may be too early to tell, but just from the first season in the Big 12, it seems as though Arizona has a brighter future ahead.

After winning just 17 of 60 Pac-12 conference games in the previous three seasons, the Wildcats posted a 9-9 record in the inaugural season in the Big 12.

This included upset wins at home against No. 20 BYU and No. 8 Kansas.

For the most part, Arizona beat who they were supposed to beat, outside of a surprising loss to Colorado at home.

Where the improvement and step-up may show is when the ranked matchups are played. Arizona went 2-6 in ranked Big 12 matchups last season.

Going .500 in those types of games, while also beating who they are supposed to beat, may just put Arizona in the NCAA tournament next season.

One big question

Can Arizona win big games and make it back to the NCAA tournament? If Stubbs can get her team in the NCAA tournament, it would be the first time since 2018 that Arizona would be in the tournament. Safe to say it would be a huge accomplishment for both Stubbs and the program as a whole.

One thing that kept Arizona out last season was a weak nonconference schedule. Stubbs has addressed that this offseason with trips to Washington and Nebraska.

Overall, Arizona is 30-29 in NCAA tournament games, with the last win coming in 2016. The furthest Arizona has ever gone in the tournament was the Final Four in 2001.

Arizona may not get to the Final Four anytime soon, but if Stubbs can continue the gradual improvements that her program is making, they might just strike gold one season.



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Greece men thump Serbia for men’s water polo bronze

Overview In the bronze-medal final, Greece was unrepentant and put Serbia to the sword with a clinical 16-7 victory. These two teams played off for fifth in 2024 and Greece was the winner there, as well. In the classification 7-8 match, Italy beat United States of America 9-8 in three even quarters with only the […]

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Overview

In the bronze-medal final, Greece was unrepentant and put Serbia to the sword with a clinical 16-7 victory. These two teams played off for fifth in 2024 and Greece was the winner there, as well.

In the classification 7-8 match, Italy beat United States of America 9-8 in three even quarters with only the third favouring Italy.

Final Placings:

1.
2.
3. Greece
4. Serbia
5.
6.
7. Italy
8. United States of America
9. Japan
10. Romania
11. Canada
12. Brazil
13. Australia
14. China
15. Singapore
16. South Africa

Match Reports

Classification 3-4

Match 47, GREECE 16 SERBIA 7 (2-2, 5-0, 3-3, 6-2)


Image Source: Dusan Mandic (SRB) and Konstantinos Gkiouvetsis (GRE)/Aniko Kovacs/World Aquatics

At Doha 2024, these two battled out fifth and sixth position and Greece came out the winner 15-11. More than a year later, Greece emerged with extra resolve as a medal was on the line. What a phenomenal performance! Inspired by the Greek women’s team winning the world championship the night before and supporting their men in the stands today, Greece was inspired beyond belief as the quarter scores show. Serbia was completely perplexed and four-time Olympic medallist (three-times champion) Dusan Mandic could only score  the farewell goal for 23 in total.

Greece made the early play with Nikolaos Papanikolaou swatting in a high rebound in the goalmouth. Nemanja Vico replied off the right-post position from a near pass for the equaliser. Greek captain Stylianos Argyropoulos scored from deep left and Vasilije Martinovic did the same, but from a metre out of the goal and one second from the first break buzzer. The second quarter was a bad one for Serbia as Greece had four unanswered goals on the board before Serbia went to a timeout. No joy from the shot. Evangelos Pouros lobbed from the top left at 1:57 and Greece was even further out of harm’s way at 7-2. Greece had a timeout at 0:24 after some more diligent defence and set up Konstantinos Kakaris on the left post and receive a near pass to go 8-2 ahead.

Konstantinos Genidounias did what captains do and score a penalty goal a minute into the second half. Pouros hammered one in from the top left and at 4:48, Nikola Murisic scored off the right post on extra, ending 11 minutes without adjusting the scoreboard. Pouros proved his value to the team with a third goal from deep left hand catch at 2:09 and 11-3. The bronze medal was nearly in the bag. Martinovic converted two extra-man plays inside two minutes with the second two seconds from time. Come the fourth quarter and Efstathios Kalogeropoulos lobbed from the top left and Ioannis Alafragkis needed little work to steer a cross pass to the right post on extra at 5:59. Greece used a timeout at 4:37 to earn a penalty foul for Argyropoulos to convert for 14-5. Martinovic buried his fourth with Konstantinos Gkiouvetsis and Kalogeropoulos responding for 16-6. Mandic made his final mark at 1:04 for 16-7.

Match Heroes
Kalogeropoulos
(13) and Pouros (8) scored three apiece with pairs to Argyropoulos (14), Skoumpakis (6), Papanikolaou (4) and Genidounias (10). Nikolaos Gkillas did not score but finished with 13 goals. Panagiotis Tzortzatos made 11 saves in goal. For Serbia, Martinovic (14) scored four goals and Mandic one (23). Milos Cuk (13) and captain Nikola Jaksic (13) did not score today.


Image Source: Greek supporters/Aniko Kovacs/World Aquatics

Turning Point
The 5-0 second quarter and 10-2 advantage before Serbia awoke.

Stats Don’t Lie
Similar results on extra with Greece converting five from 11 and Dserbia five from 10. Greece fired in both penalty attempts and made five steals to none. The shot count favoured Greece 38-30.

Bottom Line
Greece was the only team in the match it seemed. The women’s win and a touch of history helped the team across the line. Mandic being held to one goal hurt Serbia.

What They Said


Image Source: Stylianos Argyropoulos (GRE) and Sava Randelovic (SRB)/Aniko Kovacs/World Aquatics

Classification 7-8

Match 45, ITALY 9 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 8 (3-3, 2-1, 2-2, 2-2)

This was a clash between the silver-medal-winning Italians from Doha 2024 and Paris Olympic bronze medallist United States of America. Both had points to prove in the lower play-off and it started with a 3-3 first quarter. Ryder Dodd scored twice for USA, either side of an Edoardo di Somma shot from the top right. Alessandro Velotto and Francesco Cassia returned the favour and took the lead with Hannes Daube finishing the period for 3-3 on extra. In the second quarter, both teams squeezed their defences with Filipo Ferrero netting twice for 5-3 before Chase Dodd, Ryder Dodd’s older brother, rifled in a shot from the left-hand-catch position with his right arm. It was 5-4 at 4:31. The goalkeepers came into their own in the latter half of the quarter as no goals were scored.

Italy went further ahead through Francesco Condemi on penalty a minute into the third quarter and two minutes later, Italy called for a break, mainly to rest players, although an extra-player opportunity was on the cards. It meant nothing to the scoreboard. In fact, the next goal came from USA via Dylan Woodhead, dragging down a cross pass to the left-post position. Lorenzo Bruni rolled over to score at two metres for Italy and Dom Brown finished off two cross passes to his right-post position for 7-6 on extra at 1:33. The low scoring was more like a match pre-Tokyo Olympics. Di Somma opened the fourth period with a penalty strike at 5:42. Daube scored a six-metre-foul goal at 4:43. At 2:32, USA assistant coach Gavin Arroyo was red-carded. Italy took a timeout and used it to get Condemi to score from the top on extra. USA went to a timeout and Ryder Dodd snared his third goal cross cage on extra. USA had two excellent chances to force the shootout, the first hitting goalkeeper Gianmarco Nicosia in the head and the second blocked as the final seconds eroded the time. Italy had seventh place.

Match Heroes
Ferrero
and di Somma scored two each with di Somma, Bruni and Condemi topping the Italian scoring in Singapore with 10 apiece. For USA, Ryder Dodd (15) scored three, Daube two (12) while captain Max Irving, scoreless today, had a 14-goal tally.

Turning Point
Italy coming from 2-1 down to 4-3 ahead and continued to hold the match in its fist.

Stats Don’t Lie
Italy converted just two from seven on extra and stopped seven of 12. On penalties, Italy nailed two, stole the ball 12-7 and shot 27 to 30.

Bottom Line
Italy finished with four wins and USA three. Both were group winners who fell at the quarterfinal stage.

What They Said

Edoardo di SOMMA (ITA) — Two Goals

On the closeness of the match:
“It was a good game. These matches are not easy, never, so I’m proud of my team because we fought until the end. It’s the World Championships, so it’s very important for us to close this tournament with a win.”

On what Italy did well:
“We didn’t do well, of course. It was not a good tournament for us. Every time that we have a tournament we want to win. For us, this is not a good result. But OK, we close this World Championships in the right way.”

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2021 Iowa men’s track & field

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The #20 college team of the century in Eastern Iowa is the 2021 Iowa men’s track and field squad. That season the Hawkeyes won both the indoor and outdoor Big Ten titles: only the second time in program history they’d swept the Big Ten titles. This year we’re celebrating the best […]

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The #20 college team of the century in Eastern Iowa is the 2021 Iowa men’s track and field squad.

That season the Hawkeyes won both the indoor and outdoor Big Ten titles: only the second time in program history they’d swept the Big Ten titles.

This year we’re celebrating the best of the best from the sports world in Eastern Iowa over the last 25 years. The over-arcing theme of this series will be “The Stories of the Century”. During this year, we’ll count down the top 25 athletes, coaches, and teams from the past 25 years.

The year will be divided up into fourths, with the first portion of the year being dedicated to the best athletes (both high school and college) from the last 25 years.

Every Monday we’ll be releasing two more prep athletes, and every Wednesday we’ll announce two college athletes who will be added to the list.



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Top 5 adtech tools this week: Pubmatic, Vistar Media, Digital Remedy, Lovart and StackAdapt

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Shepherd’s Kaimea Dalke a rising star on the track

LOCKWOOD — The Big Sky State Games spiced up its opening ceremonies this year by adding the Montana 100, a sprint in search of the fastest man and woman in the state. The inaugural winner on the women’s side is a senior-to-be at Shepherd High School, as Kaimea Dalke etched her name in the record […]

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LOCKWOOD — The Big Sky State Games spiced up its opening ceremonies this year by adding the Montana 100, a sprint in search of the fastest man and woman in the state.

The inaugural winner on the women’s side is a senior-to-be at Shepherd High School, as Kaimea Dalke etched her name in the record books with a winning time of 12.54 seconds.

WATCH THE VIDEO:

Q2 AOW: Shepherd’s Kaimea Dalke a rising star on the track

“My coach does speed and agility training at our school. She’s been gone in Idaho, so I’ve been going to the gym,” Dalke said. “Other than the gym, I just have a good mindset about my goals and what I keep myself set on. As I said at state, I don’t like to lose, so I push myself to run faster, regardless.”

Dalke saw her status steadily rise throughout the spring, culminating at the Class B state track and field meet where she won both the 100- and 200-meter dashes and set the Class B record in the 100 (12.24 seconds). Add in a victory in the Montana 100 and she’s built quite the resume in the span of about four months.

“Oh, absolutely built up (my confidence). I feel stronger and I feel like I can definitely do it again,” Dalke said.

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing on the track for Dalke, though. She battles asthma, which can make it difficult for her to breathe at times.

“Actually, it really affects me afterwards. I don’t do long distance for a reason, that’s why I’m sprinter. If I run good, push myself through it, asthma is not a problem for me until after I get done running,” Dalke said.

Asthma, much like her competitors on the track, has proven to be no match for Dalke, as she’ll be one of the stars to watch in the coming year.





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Water polo women’s gold medal match at World Aquatics Championships 2025: Greece vs. Hungary-Xinhua

Players of Greece pose for photo during awarding ceremony for the women’s water polo match at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore on July 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun) Players of Greece walk into the court before the water polo women’s gold medal match between Greece and Hungary at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in […]

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Players of Greece pose for photo during awarding ceremony for the women’s water polo match at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore on July 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)

Players of Greece walk into the court before the water polo women’s gold medal match between Greece and Hungary at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore on July 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)

Players of Hungary comfort each other after the water polo women’s gold medal match between Greece and Hungary at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore on July 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)

Haris Pavlidis (Top, 3rd R), coach of Greece, instructs during the water polo women’s gold medal match between Greece and Hungary at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore on July 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)

Sandor Cseh, coach of Hungary, reacts during the water polo women’s gold medal match between Greece and Hungary at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore on July 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)

Athina Dimitra Giannopoulou of Greece shoots during the water polo women’s gold medal match between Greece and Hungary at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore on July 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)

Eleni Xenaki of Greece celebrates after the water polo women’s gold medal match between Greece and Hungary at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore on July 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)

Players of Hungary prepares before the water polo women’s gold medal match between Greece and Hungary at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore on July 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)

Eszter Varro (L) of Hungary competes during the water polo women’s gold medal match between Greece and Hungary at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore on July 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)

Dorottya Szilagyi (R) of Hungary competes during the water polo women’s gold medal match between Greece and Hungary at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore on July 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)

Sandor Cseh, coach of Hungary, reacts during the water polo women’s gold medal match between Greece and Hungary at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore on July 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)

Team members of Greece celebrate after the water polo women’s gold medal match between Greece and Hungary at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore on July 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)

Eleni Xenaki of Greece celebrates after the water polo women’s gold medal match between Greece and Hungary at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore on July 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)

Krisztina Garda of Hungary competes during the water polo women’s gold medal match between Greece and Hungary at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore on July 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)

Eszter Varro (L) of Hungary competes during the water polo women’s gold medal match between Greece and Hungary at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore on July 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)

Panna Tiba of Hungary celebrates scoring during the water polo women’s gold medal match between Greece and Hungary at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore on July 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)

Christina Siouti (R) of Greece passes the ball during the water polo women’s gold medal match between Greece and Hungary at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore on July 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)

Medalists celebrate during the awarding ceremony for the women’s water polo match at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore on July 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)

Dora Leimeter of Hungary competes during the water polo women’s gold medal match between Greece and Hungary at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore on July 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)

Haris Pavlidis (C), coach of Greece, celebrates after the water polo women’s gold medal match between Greece and Hungary at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore on July 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)

Players of Greece pose for photo during awarding ceremony for the women’s water polo match at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore on July 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)



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Men’s Cross Country Announces 2025 Schedule

Story Links SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara men’s cross country announced its 2025 competition schedule.   The season begins August 29 at the USF Invitational in San Francisco. The Broncos then head to the Kym Duyst Invitational September 13 followed by Sean Earl Loyola Lakefront Invitational and the Pacific Invitational October […]

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SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara men’s cross country announced its 2025 competition schedule.
 
The season begins August 29 at the USF Invitational in San Francisco. The Broncos then head to the Kym Duyst Invitational September 13 followed by Sean Earl Loyola Lakefront Invitational and the Pacific Invitational October 3.
 
Santa Clara hosts the annual Bronco invitational at Baylands Park in Sunnyvale on October 18. More info can be found here.
 
Pre Nationals on October 18 close out the regular season before the WCC Championships November 1. NCAA West Regionals are November 14 in Sacramento, and the NCAA Championships are November 22 in Columbia, Mo.



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