By
Brian Penso
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Talbot, Napier led Arizona against No. 9 Florida
The Arizona volleyball team overcame a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Florida 3-2 last night in what may have been UA's toughest match of the season.
"From the beginning, I knew it would be a struggle," UA head coach David Rubio said. "We had to work really hard for this victory."
After losing the first two games, No. 3 Arizona came out firing in the third game, beginning UA's comeback with a 15-11 win.
A comeback came into focus for the Wildcats after a 15-5 fourth game victory.
The key to its fourth game victory was the play of sophomore outside hitter Lisa Rutledge.
In the first three games, Rutledge logged just 11 kills and had a dismal .059 hitting percentage.
But in the fourth game, the sophomore came alive with 5 kills on 7 swings to go with a .571 hitting percentage.
"Lisa came out mentally more aggressive to terminate the ball," Rubio said.
Rutledge's success also managed to rub off on her teammates.
"When Lisa is hitting good, you see it in her," sophomore middle blocker Stefani Saragosa said. "When she hits good, we seem to all play good."
The Wildcats had all of the momentum going into the fifth game, but No. 9 Florida came out and played intense volleyball.
The Gators seemed to run out of gas at the end of the fifth game as Arizona rallied to win the final game, 15-13, and seal up the victory.
"Playing this type of match has made us better as a team," Rubio said. "It gives us confidence to beat a team at this high level of competition."
The Wildcat comeback was led by senior outside hitter Allison Napier and junior outside hitter Jill Talbot.
Napier tallied a team high 21 kills to go with a .283 hitting percentage.
Every time the Wildcats needed a point, they looked Napier's way.
"Allie was rock solid for us tonight," Rubio said.
Talbot finished the match with 17 kills on 32 swings to go with a team high .375 hitting percentage.
"As a team tonight, we had to dig deep and fight for every point in order to catch up in this match," Talbot said.
The match didn't start as well as it ended for Arizona, though - the Gators (21-3 overall, 12-0 Southeastern Conference) stormed out and won the first game 15-13.
The Wildcats (21-2, 14-1) were not fazed by the Gators' early match success, jumping out to a 14-8 second-game lead.
Florida fought back to and won the second game, 16-14, and it looked as though UA was about to throw in the towel.
"We were not executing at all," Rubio said. "We were not playing well and we knew that we needed to be more consistent if we were to have a chance to win."
