V-ball team starts new mid-way through

At the halfway point last season the unranked Wildcats, a team that began at No. 25 in the country, held a 3-6 Pacific 10 Conference record and had dropped its last four matches.

That Monday, after a pair of losses at the Washington schools, Rubio outlined UA's second half schedule on a chalk board.

"I wrote the remaining teams and what we need to do to make the NCAA (tournament)," Rubio said. "The talk was more to motivate them and to keep them upbeat by showing them that I wasn't down.

"We were struggling and our chemistry was struggling. I wanted to send the message that I was fighting and have them follow the example."

The team finished the second half at 7-2 and made the tournament after nearly everyone had written them off as contenders.

Rubio, whose current team is off to its best conference mark in school history at 6-3 (14-3 overall) and is tied for third place, didn't have any chalk in his hand this season.

Monday is usually an off-day but Rubio decided to make them go through a short practice for a reality check.

"We've never been in a position like this. I want to guard against us being too carefree or being a little too lazy in our preparation in the upcoming weeks," Rubio said.

"Our kids aren't used to winning this much. I need to guard against us subconsciously backing down. Hey, just because we are 6-3, we've still got a lot of work and have so much room for improvement and that was my message to them."

Senior Sara Johnson admitted that none of the players wanted to be at practice Monday, but said that it was good for the team.

At the end of practice, Rubio talked to the players and stressed that the team is starting a fresh season.

"As far as I'm concerned we are 0-0 right now," he told the players, who play at Arizona State Friday.

"This is new territory for all of us. I want us to feel like our backs are up against the wall so they will feel a sense of urgency," Rubio said.

"The thing that's been demonstrated with this senior group is that the close matches that we've needed to take care of, we've won, with the exception of Washington. There's no indication of us backing down, I just want to make sure it doesn't happen."

Senior Carrie Penfield added, "There's such good teams in the Pac-10 and basically we can't afford to let down and feel like we're on top of the world when there are that many threats out there."

The No. 15 Wildcats' first major threat in the second half comes next weekend when they travel to the Northwest to play the Washington schools. After that they host No. 4 Stanford, which has won three national championships in the last five seasons, and Cal.

"The second half is where you earn your money," Rubio said. "You're measured on how you finish the season. At this point everyone is in the hunt. Anything can happen and that's the scary thing."

The standings are bound to be shuffled with half of the conference at least tied for third place and every team having to meet each other once more.

"The Pac-10 is very unpredictable," sophomore Raelene Morton said. "You never know who is going to win or what might happen."

Stanford leads the Pac-10 with a 9-0 record. Southern Cal holds a slight edge for second at 7-2. Arizona, Washington State and Washington are tied for third at 6-3.

"Our record is really strange to me," Johnson said. "It's weird to hear that we're off to our best start because we haven't been playing half as well as we can.

"I get goose bumps just thinking about it and how good we'll do once we play to our potential."

Standings could change in the Wildcats' favor this weekend when Washington State and Washington play Southern Cal in Los Angeles.

"Record-wise we're in good shape," Rubio said. "Fundamentally, the team has not yet come close to the potential it has. In the second half of last year we really maximized our potential and strengths. This year we're still eons away and to me that's exciting...If we continue to evolve it will be fun to see how good we can be."

As to when and what it will take to reach their peak, Rubio said, "If we come in and practice hard and to our potential and not key in on wins and losses, we will be there by the end of the season."

The Wildcats have five weekends of regular season competition left to accomplish that goal.

"We don't want to be playing our best just yet," Penfield said. "Hopefully that will happen around tournament time."

Johnson added, "I just want the time to be here when we are beating everyone and playing great, but I know that is right around the corner."