By
Brian Penso
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Sebbas to fill in for sophomore
UA sophomore middle blocker Stefani Saragosa is listed as day to day with tendontis in her right shoulder, head coach David Rubio said.
Saragosa did not play last weekend versus Washington and Washington St. for fear of re-injuring her arm .
Rubio wants her to be completely healthy before she returns.
"I want to make sure we're real prudent in taking care of this injury so it does not drag out," Rubio said. "We want her to be healthy as the games become more and more important."
Rubio said that while he hopes Saragosa will be able to begin to swing this week in practice, he will not speculate as to when the sophomore will return to the lineup.
Fortunately for the Wildcats, great team depth makes Saragosa's injury less devastating - junior middle blocker Erin Sebbas has taken her spot in the rotation and will continue to fill in until she returns.
"It is good to be in the rotation, but I feel we are just lucky enough to be so deep," Sebbas said.
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Senior middle blocker Marisa DaLee tied a UA record for hitting percentage with a .750 kill percentage versus Washington last Friday.
The senior form Phoenix recorded 13 kills on 16 swings en route to a sweep of the Huskies.
Rubio feels DaLee's record-breaking match is due to the Wildcats' successful passing and setting, along with the talents of the individual player.
"This record is an attribute to our passing and Dana's setting," Rubio said. "You need all three to get those numbers."
DaLee added to her statistics in Saturday's game versus Washington St., notching 13 kills on 29 swings along for a .379 hitting percentage.
"I have always said that Marisa is pretty special," Rubio said. "I am glad to see that she is playing well."
DaLee is currently ranked second in the nation with a .441 hitting percentage, trailing only Colorado State's Angela Knopf, who is hitting .454 this season.
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Even though the Wildcats have dominated their competition this season, garnering a school-best No. 5 ranking, Rubio is concerned with his team's inability to put teams away.
In its loss to UCLA, the only blemish on UA's conference record, Arizona had numerous chances to put the Bruins away but faltered, leading to a Wildcat defeat.
"In the UCLA match, we had eight times to close them out in game two and we did not finish them off," Rubio said.
This was also evident in the fourth game versus Washington State where they had problems closing out the Cougars.
Rubio feels that when the competition becomes harder this may eventually cause major problems for the Wildcats.
"Our trend is that we can't put away teams at the end, and I feel that this will eventually come back and haunt us," Rubio said. "We have to execute at that moment as well as we execute throughout (the match)."
In practice, Rubio has emphasized the need to close teams out, and players realize they need to improve that aspect of its game.
"We need to learn how to finish off the game at the end and we really need to work on that to continue our success," sophomore outside hitter Lisa Rutledge said.
