By
Brian Penso
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Wildcats without Saragosa and Clark tonight against Stanford
When the season began, the Arizona volleyball team hadn't beaten Stanford since 1993.
Not anymore.
Things seem to have changed for the Wildcats when they beat Stanford at home earlier in the season.
Fifth-ranked Arizona (17-2, 10-1 Pacific 10 Conference) will attempt a season sweep when they travel to Palo Alto, Calif., tonight, to take on No. 17 Stanford (11-8, 5-6) in a pivotal conference match.
For the Wildcats to win, they will have to get past Stanford outside hitter Logan Tom.
In its first meeting, Stanford was missing its sophomore All-American, who was in Sydney, Australia as a member of the United States women's volleyball team.
Tom, who has been back for four matches, gives the Cardinal an added advantage this weekend - UA head coach David Rubio said that the Cardinal are a different team with its star back.
"Logan changes the whole complexion of their team," Rubio said. "The reality is that the last match was a non-factor because Logan is such a big presence on the floor."
While Arizona players realize how talented Tom is, Arizona is aware that it takes more than just a star player to make up a team.
"We are deep at every position," senior outside hitter Allison Napier said. "Logan (Tom) is a great player, but she is not the whole team."
UA also thinks it has an edge against Stanford because of UA's perceived depth at each position.
Going into this match, Arizona and Stanford are two teams headed in different directions.
The Wildcats are coming off a weekend series sweep of Washington and Washington State. A victory against No. 4 USC two weeks ago gave the Wildcats a share of the conference lead.
For the second straight weekend, the Wildcats will be without sophomore middle blocker Stefani Saragosa, who is still suffering from tendentious in her right arm.
Senior defensive specialist Elvina Clark, who has an unknown stomach ailment, is also expected to miss the game tonight.
Rubio will look to junior middle blocker Erin Sebbas and sophomore outside hitter Shannon Torregrosa to fill the holes in UA's rotation. Rubio said that freshman outside hitter Christina Frost will also see quality minutes against the Cardinal.
"Erin and Shannon both did a great job last week, and I expect nothing different from them this week," Rubio said.
Sebbas' recent success has aided the Wildcats and allowed Saragosa to get healthy while fighting a nagging illness.
"Erin is just playing so great right now," Saragosa said. "I want to play, but there is no reason to risk the rest of the season when we are so deep."
On the other hand, Stanford is coming off of tough losses to both USC and No. 8 UCLA.
Stanford will try to combat UA middle blocker Marisa DaLee with middle blocker Jennifer Detmer, who has averaged 1.51 blocks in Pac-10 competition.
Detmer will have her hands full with DaLee, who is currently third in the nation in hitting with a .448 percentage.
"We are playing really great right now," Saragosa said. "If we play our game, Stanford knows that they have to play great to beat us."
