Volleyball looking for another road sweep

Nicholas Valenzuela Arizona Daily Wildcat UA middle blocker Marisa DaLee (12) attempts to put the ball past the Stanford defense last Friday at McKale Center. The Wildcats travel to Corvallis, Ore., today to take on the Ducks.

The Beavers (10-4 overall, 0-3 in the Pacific 10 Conference) are an unknown entity, something that worries Arizona head coach David Rubio. Arizona plays OSU tonight at 7 and Oregon Sunday at 1 p.m.

"I'm not quite sure what to expect from OSU," Rubio said. "On film, they look physical. Those kinds of teams make me nervous because they can explode on you."

Arizona (11-1, 3-1) is tied for second place in the Pac-10 with Southern Cal and UCLA, and will face a difficult environment in Oregon.

"They don't have very high expectations and come out ready," sophomore middle blocker Marisa DaLee said. "Beating Arizona looks good for them."

Arizona has been led by senior Keisha Johnson Demps, junior Raelene Elam, freshmen Dana Burkholder and DaLee, but sophomore outside hitter Allison Napier is hoping to get out of her slump with a break-out weekend.

Napier had a difficult weekend against Stanford and California, teams she was expected to help carry the Wildcats against. In both matches she finished with a negative hitting percentage.

"My confidence has been torn down a little bit, but I understand that people go through bad stretches," Napier said. "I feel confident that I can get through it.

"We're not playing that (high) quality of schools, so there's less pressure. I know I'm not really, really needed to beat those teams, assuming everyone else is playing OK."

Rubio feels that his team is facing the same problems as nearly every conference team - inconsistency.

"We've been, as most teams have, inconsistent individually," Rubio said. "Alli's in a slump and Keisha is not playing as well as she can. We need to continue to be successful despite our inconsistencies and sustain that kind of rhythm."

Oregon State is lead by a pair of 1997 Pac-10 All-Freshmen, MB Angie Shirley and OH Krista Kinsman.

"Angie showed she's got tremendous potential," OSU head coach Jeff Mazzochi said. "We have no seniors, but our sophomores played a lot of volleyball as freshmen last year."

Oregon (1-2, 6-7), the conference doormat a year ago, is evolving into a dangerous squad. The Ducks are lead by junior OH Madeline Ernst, who is averaging more than four kills per game.

"Oregon is very young, like us," UA assistant coach Chris Lamb said. "They are very athletic and have done a very good job recruiting.

"Oregon is a very hungry team. Their fans seem pretty fanatical and their offense is pretty fancy. They'll be throwing a lot of different things at us."

Bryan Rosenbaum can be reached via e-mail at Bryan.Rosenbaum@wildcat.arizona.edu.