Coach says rough period good for volleyball team

Nicholas Valenzuela Arizona Daily Wildcat Freshman outside hitter Jill Talbot (32) goes up for a block against Oregon State Nov. 1 at McKale Center. The Wildcats lost to Southern Cal and UCLA on the road over the weekend, dropping the team into fourth place in the Pac-10.

"You don't want to fall prey and use the excuse that we're young," Rubio said. "We're certainly going through that part of the season and experiencing something we've never experienced before. I think it's important to go through something like this."

Though it may be difficult to understand, it is good for Arizona to experience difficult times and learn from their losses. With a non-conference schedule that featured Idaho, Indiana and Colorado State, the team jumped out to a 10-0 record, its best start ever.

On the other end of the spectrum, a young UCLA squad played against Hawaii, Penn State and Ohio State, all national powers. Though the Bruins started out 0-5, they received valuable experience, and have climbed back to into third place with an 11-10, 10-4 Pacific 10 Conference record.

After the 15-10, 15-3, 15-13 loss Sunday afternoon to UCLA, Arizona dropped into fourth place. The Wildcats won the earlier match between the two teams at home in October.

"We just didn't play very well," Rubio said. "We've been inconsistent with our pin players, but we haven't discovered anything we haven't already known."

On Friday night, Arizona lost to USC, which stands alone in second place in the Pac-10, 15-9, 15-11, 15-13. The Trojans took the season series, but Rubio was pleased to see his team come out and play with more intensity then it did when the two teams met in Tucson.

"I felt like we competed much better and that's good news," he said. "SC's a very good ball-controlling team. I look at these matches to see how close we are to turning the corner."

With the three remaining matches at home against Arizona State, Washington and Washington State, Arizona should win out and gain some ground on the Bruins. Of course, it is the second half of the season, an entirely different season.

"I think this is a good cycle for us to be on, even though others may disagree," Rubio said. "I don't have a crystal ball, but the bottom line is that we've got to play better over the next two weeks."

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