By
Kamy Shaygan
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Mild-mannered Rutledge leads Wildcats to No. 10 ranking
Arizona sophomore Lisa Rutledge can jump out of the building - not that she'd actually admit to it.
Instead, the mild mannered outside hitter will talk freely of her favorite game last season.
"Ask me about my favorite game last season," she said.
As Rutledge was being taunted last season by a hostile and loud USC crowd, something registered. The sophomore decided that she had had enough and decided to take the game in her own hands.
The San Diego-native led the UA to victory by posting 22 kills against the favored Trojans, setting a since-broken UA season-high in kills.
While walking off the court, Rutledge managed a small smile - she had just hushed an entire crowd en route to one of UA's most impressive wins of the season. It was clear that Rutledge, a sophomore, had arrived.
Rutledge, who was considering USC as one of her choices out of high school, found that many of the people encouraging her to become a Trojan were the same people making the rude gestures.
The match catapulted her season - Rutledge continued to play solid volleyball and earned her honorable All-Pacific 10 Conference Freshman Selection.
The USC game wasn't her finest of the season, however. Rutledge broke her own record of 22 kills by slamming 24 kills against Washington, which is the most kills by an Arizona player in more than two years.
Just a freshman last season, Rutledge finished second on the team with 296 kills.
But that was last season.
The modest yet dedicated Rutledge will be one of the key elements to the No. 10 Wildcats' success this season.
UA volleyball head coach David Rubio believes that it's just a matter of time before Rutledge becomes one of the elite players in the nation.
"I think Lisa is going to be one of the premier left-side hitters in the country one day," he said. "She is in the evolutionary stage of becoming that player right now.
"She's becoming more complete every practice and she is hitting the ball with a little more pace and velocity."
As Rutledge prepares for the season, she's intensely focused Sept. 29 - the day the Wildcats face No. 3 Stanford at McKale Center.
Providing Rutledge with a little extra help against Stanford will be her lucky hot-pink sports bra.
"I have the same hot-pink sports bra that I like to wear for games and practices," she said. "Pink is my favorite color - any form of pink is good."
At the end of last season, Rutledge rolled an ankle during the crucial part of a match against the Cardinal and was unable to compete. Some say her injury cost the Wildcats the match.
"That was so heartbreaking for me because I couldn't go back in the game, " she said. "We were playing good, and we were fired up and ready to go.
It appears as if one of the team's most mild-mannered players has a little competitive edge to her.
"I have a little revenge thing against them," she said. "I really want to kill them this year."
Her big-game mentality is hardly new, however. Rutledge has groomed her game at an elite level as a member of the 1998 and 1999 U.S. Junior National Team, which selects 12 of the nation's top players to compete.
Although Rutledge did not get much playing time the first year, she was one of the key elements in that lead the 1999 national team to the semifinals of the competition.
"My first year was hard because I didn't get any playing time," Rutledge said, "(The experience) made me a better player just practicing with the team. I had become a better player my second year and I had a lot of fun."
Despite being one of the star volleyball players at the UA, Rutledge mamages to keep busy off the court, taking care of her cocker spaniel Nalu, which means surf or wave in Hawaiian.
And though she is single, three men that Rutledge will undoubtedly date are the members of Blink 182.
"My favorite, favorite, favorite, favorite, group ever is Blink 182," Rutledge said. "I'm going to marry one of them, I just don't know which yet."
