TUCSON, Ariz. -- Up two sets to none and leading the third set 17-11, the Arizona volleyball team appeared poised for its fourth straight sweep and a Cactus Classic championship.
 
It wasn't meant to be, however, as Radford stormed back to take the third set and then the fourth and the fifth on its way to a 3-0 weekend and the tournament title. The Highlanders defeated Arizona 15-25, 20-25, 25-22, 25-17, 15-9.
 
"Well it's pretty clear that we're really inconsistent," said head coach Dave Rubio. "We don't have the ability to sustain that level of play, especially when the opponent starts to push back a little bit."
 
Through the midpoint of the third set, Arizona had outscored Radford 67-46 cumulatively. From that point forward it was 54-31 Highlanders. 
 
"We we're cruising and played really well the first two sets, and then the third set, the kids thought the game was in command," said Rubio. "All of a sudden, Radford decided to step in right then, and we couldn't get out of our own way. We're not strong enough yet as a team to recover once momentum changes. It comes down to the upperclassmen helping us out, but so far it's been a struggle. We played well in the first two, but you have to earn the win."
 
Three Wildcats -- Julia Patterson (44 assists, 15 digs), Kendra Dahlke (12 kills, 11 digs) and Paige Whipple (12 kills, 11 digs) -- posted double-doubles for UA. Kimberly Gutierrez had a Wildcat career high 19 digs in the match.
 
"The way that we started those first two sets, we were looking really strong," said Gutierrez. "You could see how we had grown from preseason to now. This match was a great experience for us but it also shows we have more room to grow. Our weaknesses were seen and this tells us what we need to be working on."
 
Arizona's starting middle blockers played well once again. Jade Turner had a career-high 10 kills on .400 hitting to go along with a pair of blocks while Devyn Cross added six kills on .385 hitting with four blocks. Both Turner and Cross were named to the All-Cactus Classic Team.
 
"We can learn from this," said Turner. "I'm expecting to come back hard next week, better than ever. We want to put our all into it."
 
UA was hurt by Radford's serve, especially late in the match. In total, Radford had 13 service aces to Arizona's five. 
 
Arizona scored 12 of the final 16 points of the first set as the Cats broke away from Radford in the first to take the set, 25-15. UA outhit Radford .279 to .047. The Cats had a trio of solo blocks.
 
After a 25-20 victory in the second set, the Cats went to their locker room with a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
The Wildcats appeared poised to sweep the match, up 17-11, but Radford stormed back to steal the set, 25-22 to force a fourth set.
 
It was all Radford in the fourth, dominating wire-to-wire to force a fifth set in a 25-17 victory.
 
In the fifth, Arizona grabbed an early lead, doubling up the Highlanders 6-3, but a 7-0 Radford run turned that Wildcat lead into an insurmountable deficit. The Highlanders won the fifth 15-9.
 
All-Tournament Team

• Maddie Palmer, Radford (MVP)
• Kaylor Nash, Radford
• Valerie Gonzalez, Radford
• Devyn Cross, Arizona
• Jade Turner, Arizona
• Teagan DeFalco, Grand Canyon
• Claire Kovensky, Grand Canyon
• Chloe Rojas, Eastern Kentucky

Up Next

• Arizona heads to the Sunshine State next weekend to take on Florida A&M (Friday) and Florida State (Saturday) in Tallahassee.

Follow the Cats

• To keep up with Arizona volleyball, be sure to visit ArizonaWildcats.com and follow the team on its Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts.
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