MALIBU, Calif. -– Competing without many of its regular starters, the Arizona volleyball team fell to Jiangsu China 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-17) on Saturday in an exhibition match at the Pepperdine Asics Classic.
The Wildcats were able to get some of their newcomers extended playing time while the regular starters were able to get some rest in preparation for No. 13 Pepperdine later in the night.
Jiangsu hit .364 for the match, while Arizona finished at .186. However, the Wildcats did win the battle at the net, as they outblocked Jiangsu 9-3.
Sophomore Shaquillah Torres and freshman Olivia Magill led Arizona with seven kills apiece. Magill also had four blocks to finish with a team-high nine points. Alyse Hensley was efficient, providing six kills on .455 hitting. Freshman Emily Bemis added a season-high five kills to go along with four blocks. Freshman setter Lauren Fuller dished out 23 assists while adding five digs and two digs. Meanwhile, Ronni Lewis finished with eight digs and five assists.
Jiangsu, which previously defeated USC and UCLA this season in exhibition matches, was led by Tingli Zhai with 15 kills. Qianwen Jiang was the only other player with double-digit kills for the match; she finished with 12.
