Midway through the second set of the Arizona Wildcats’ match vs. Illinois State on Saturday, Dave Rubio pulled his starters.
He had seen enough.
“I thought they gave up and I thought they gave up early,” the Arizona head coach said. “I could sense that they were letting go of the rope and I tried to reel them back in and have them fight.
“And by the time the midway point came, I was like ‘I’m done. I’m just going to let the starters regroup.’”
But the team never regrouped, and Arizona was swept by the visiting Illinois State Redbirds (27-25, 25-12, 25-23) in their nonconference finale.