By
Kamy Shaygan
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Napier, Torregrosa playing bigger roles
Of the seven people selected to the 2000 Starwoods Wildcat Classic All-Tournament team, four were UA players.
Along with junior setter Dana Burkholder - the tournament's MVP - sophomore Lisa Rutledge, junior Jill Talbot, and senior Marisa DaLee were selected to be on the all-tournament team.
Rutledge was completely surprised to be honored with the selection.
"I knew it would be Jill, Marisa and Dana but I wasn't expecting it," Rutledge said. "I was very pleased."
Talbot credits her all-tournament selection to the consistent play of her teammates.
"We did the little things like passing (and) serve receive, which made our offense run a lot smoother," she said.
DaLee believes the reason so many Wildcats were selected was because of head coach David Rubio's practice philosophy.
"I think he's holding us to a higher standard," DaLee said. "He has a lot higher expectations."
Arizona will be counting heavily on strong performances from senior Allison Napier and sophomore Shannon Torregrosa as the season progresses.
"There's no question they will be playing," Rubio said. "Shannon has a lot of things to learn and has a long ways before reaching her potential, but she's made some tremendous strides in the last couple of weeks in making better decisions as an attacker."
Although Torregrosa is on her way to reaching maximum potential, Rubio is confident that Napier is already there.
"Allie is now playing at a level in which she has been capable of playing for some time," he said. "It's nice that she is being this consistent and it's made a big difference on our team."
The No.14 Wildcats have only two practices this week due to a busy travel schedule.
Arizona will head to Tempe to face ASU tomorrow before going to Utah this weekend for two matches against BYU and the University of Utah.
"We are limited in the number of practice opportunities this week and limited in terms of preparation as well," Rubio said.
The rivalry match with ASU will be the first Pacific 10 Conference match of the season for the Wildcats.
"We're expecting a fiercely-contested battle this Wednesday," Rubio said.
The Sun Devils post an overall record of 5-2 - both losses took place at Wells Fargo Arena, their home court.
ASU is led by Amanda Burbridge, who was a Pac-10 All Conference selection last season.
After opening the season with a loss to UC-Santa Barbara, Arizona has won its last five matches and has a 12-game winning streak.
The Wildcats fell from No. 10 to No. 14 in the national rankings following the loss to the Gauchos.
