l in dramatic fashion.
The No. 13 Arizona volleyball team extended their winning streak to six matches yesterday as they came back from an 0-2 deficit to defeat Arizona State at the Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe.
"We hung around long enough and toughed it out to win," head coach David Rubio said. "We were not very good today, but we grinded it out."
The Wildcats lost the first two games by two points each, 13-15, 13-15, but came back to win the next three games 15-5, 15-7 and 15-9 to salvage the match.
Despite being down, junior setter Dana Burkholder was all smiles as she came out of the break time heading into the third game.
"I wasn't really worried," Burkholder said. "I knew that we needed to turn our game around and do a few things along with executing better."
Burkholder obviously knew something the rest of the crowd didn't.
The Wildcats' comeback charge was led by sophomore outside hitter Lisa Rutledge, who finished the match with 23 kills and 15 digs.
"I was determined not to lose," Rutledge said.
Not to be outdone, senior middle blocker Marisa DaLee finished with 20 kills and a .405 attacking percentage, helping to spearhead the Arizona comeback.
As for her performance, the modest Rutledge shrugged and said, "It was OK."
Junior outside hitter Jill Talbot also stepped up her performance after starting slow in the first two games.
Talbot finished with 13 kills and a service ace.
Before the final game of the match, Rubio pulled Rutledge aside and began giving the sophomore advice.
"I wanted her to start setting Jill more," Rubio said. "Even though Jill started off struggling, I knew that when the game was on the line, she would come through. I knew that she was someone we could go to."
The Wildcats appeared to have underestimated the Sun Devils and were caught off-guard in the first two games of the match.
"I think we started reading the press," Rubio said. "We played the first two games as inconsistent and sloppy as I have ever seen so far.
"We started thinking we were really good and didn't need to show up and play. ASU came in and we were not prepared at all."
Although Burkholder felt she could have played better, the victory was all that mattered.
"Personally, I didn't play very well the first two games and I just struggled mentally and physically," Burkholder said. "It's great to get the win. Our 'A' game wasn't here. We executed and that's what counts."
Kamy Shaygan can be reached at sports@wildcat.arizona.edu
