RYAN CLAY/Arizona Daily Wildcat Freshman Kelli Mulvany spikes a ball last week during practice in McKale Center. The Wildcat volleyball team's rigorous offseason practice schedule includes early morning practices as they prepare for another Final Four run.

Volleyball players begin chase bright and early for another Final Four

Beep, beep, beep. The alarm goes off, and the clock says 5:30 a.m. What do you do? Most college students look over and wonder why the alarm is going off so early.

Then, they unplug the clock and go back to sleep, only to awake many hours later.

But those students aren't members of the Arizona women's volleyball team.

Four days a week, the girls jump out of bed, throw on some clothes and head to McKale center for offseason practice and workouts.

"Anytime you have to get up that early on a daily basis, it teaches discipline," Arizona head coach David Rubio said. "Everyone on this team has to earn the right to be good players and a good team. This is all part of the process of finding the identity of this team."

Last season, UA reached its first Final Four, but its dream of winning its first national championship fell short with a loss in the semifinals to No. 2 Long Beach State.

"We are training really hard right now," junior outside hitter Shannon Torregrosa said. "We have to continue to train hard in order to get back to the Final Four. We have a lot of young players on our team, and we have to show them the dedication it takes to compete for a national championship."

With three senior leaders departing - two-time All American Dana Burkholder, All-American Jill Talbot and Erin Sebbas - Arizona is faced with the challenge of replacing each player with current freshmen players.

Before spring practice began, Rubio had a private meeting with seniors-to-be Stefani Saragosa, Lisa Rutledge and Torregrosa and reiterated to them the importance of being a leader that the younger players can look to for guidance.

"Everyone is going to have a new role," Rubio said. "We have no one on the team that has such a dominating personality like Dana, but they are making strides. It's a good process to go through, as it allows different players to step up and take on new roles."

Rutledge has taken on the challenge that Rubio has given to step up and become a senior leader for the Wildcats.

"Everyone goes into their senior season knowing it's their last year," Rutledge said. "The seniors on this team need to be role models for the younger players. We have to show them what it takes to get back to the Final Four."

Rutledge also said that practicing as frequently as the Wildcats have has given players an opportunity to gel on the court.

"It has been difficult to get used to playing with everyone," Rutledge said. "When spring practice began, we did not have any chemistry on the court, but now we are beginning to come together. We have definitely improved since practice began."

Rubio added that the team has been inconsistent at times, but he said that is the reason for practicing so frequently during the offseason.

"It has been a very interesting spring," Rubio said. "At times, we have been so inconsistent, and at other times, we have looked very good. That is part of coming together and becoming a team."

With eight freshmen on the team and only four starters returning, there will be a fight for playing time next season. That's not including the three blue-chip recruits that will be coming in the fall.

However, Rubio said that spring practice has been so demanding on the freshmen that he said they are more concerned about surviving the spring rather then worrying about playing time.

"The younger players have never been through anything as demanding as our practice schedule in their athletic career," Rubio said. " I think that they are more concerned with just surviving."