By
Kamy Shaygan
Arizona Daily Wildcat
DaLee gets 1000th kill as UA routes Cal, Stanford
It took seven years, but the Arizona volleyball team finally defeated Stanford.
The No. 8 Wildcats didn't lose a single game this weekend against the Cardinal and California as they set a new school record by winning their 11th and 12th straight matches.
Arizona defeated the Cardinal in three games,15-7, 15-11, and 15-11, Friday night for the program's first win against Stanford since 1993.
The Wildcats (12-1 overall, 5-0 Pacific 10 Conference) then defeated California Saturday night, setting another school record by having their best conference start at 5-0.
Despite setting the school record Friday night, Arizona head coach David Rubio was more impressed to have knocked off Stanford, who had beaten the Wildcats in their last 13 outings.
"I was obviously really excited that we played well," Rubio said. "It's been a long cycle for us. It's been since 1993, so fortunately we have a tremendous team this year. Stanford, in a sense, is in a rebuilding process so it's nice to get the 'W'."
Wildcat senior Marisa DaLee, who had never beaten Stanford prior to Friday night, tallied her 1000th career kill in the second game of the match. DaLee, became only the eighth Wildcat in the program's history to have tallied more than 1000 kills.
"She's just so impressive," Rubio said. "I watch her play, and it's impressive what a go-to player she is. It's really a tribute to the people around her and a tribute to her and how hard she's had to work to get to the point where she is at as a player."
Although the milestone was announced to the crowd during a time-out, DaLee was not aware of latest accomplishment.
"I didn't even know," DaLee said. "It's a good accomplishment that some people haven't done, so I'm excited."
DaLee, along with Rubio, was more impressed with the win than the record.
"That was a big step, personally, to win," DaLee said. "Mentally, that was a huge step for us. They are always going to be a good team because they are Stanford, and they are going to have the big, physical players. We were a year older than them, so we were more polished than they were."
The Wildcats' charge against the Cardinal was lead by junior Jill Talbot.
Talbot finished the game with a .737 hitting percentage, the second-best hitting percentage in a match in UA history.
Talbot finished the game with 15 kills and with nine digs but credited much of her success to junior setter Dana Burkholder, who finished with a team-high 50 assists.
"Dana really picked up throughout the match and I got some great sets," Talbot said. "I was just trying to keep the ball in play."
Talbot's confidence level was high entering the Stanford match.
"I think we just had a different mentality this year as opposed to previous years," Talbot said. "We knew that we could beat them. I never had a doubt we were going to win. You could feel it out there. We weren't going to defer to them any longer."
Along with Talbot, senior Allison Napier demonstrated continued consistency, posting a team-high 16 kills and three service aces.
"It's great to beat Stanford," Napier said. "To be honest, I didn't know if I would ever beat Stanford."
Napier, who spent most of 1999 in a reserve role, credits her newfound confidence to an attitude change.
"I have just taken the pressure off myself," Napier said. "I mean, last year I was so worried about not getting the playing time. This year, I kind of let everything go."
The Wildcats defeated the Golden Bears Saturday night, marking their 12th straight victory.
Arizona defeated Cal in three games 15-6, 15-9, and 15-8.
After the emotional victory against Stanford the previous night, Arizona was careful not to underestimate the unranked Golden Bears.
"I knew we had to be focused," DaLee said. "Cal is actually a really good team this year. We just took them out of their game."
DaLee improved her NCAA leading hitting percentage in the match by posting a .650 percentage to go along with her 14 kills on 20 attempts.
Napier led the team in kills though with a career high 21 and Burkholder again led UA in assist with 45, while having six kills.
