Tuesday September 11, 2001

UA ranked No. 3 in new AVCA Poll

With its victories over Utah and Louisville, the UA volleyball team reached another milestone this week as they improved to the No. 3 team in the nation, according to the latest American Volleyball Coaches' Poll. The ranking is the highest in school history.

"This is a big step for our program," UA head coach David Rubio said. "It is nice to look at our program and say that we are one of the top women's volleyball programs."

However, Rubio is quick to downplay the ranking, saying that Arizona is far from reaching its ultimate goal.

"All we're concerned about is getting better," Rubio said. "There are so many things that can happen and the season has just begun."

Also, Pacific 10 Conference rivals Stanford and USC moved up to No. 4 and No. 5, respectively.

The Cardinal moved up five spots following their upset of No. 6 Penn State over the weekend. Nebraska still held on to the top spot and Long Beach State stayed at No. 2.

This weekend, UA will travel to Stanford to start its conference schedule.

"These new rankings have added more juice to this weekend's match-ups," Rubio said. "It will be a very exciting match-up this weekend for both programs."

Saturday's match marked the only time all season UA will have a match at home the same day as a home football game.

The team said they were excited about playing a match and then going out to support another UA team afterward. In the match, the Wildcats swept Louisville in three games.

"Everyone at McKale (Center) has a connection with other teams on campus," senior setter Dana Burkholder said. "We all try to give as much support to each team as we can."

During the football game, the UA volleyball team and the members of UA"s 17 other varsity sports were honored for their hard work on and off the field.

"We like to make our rounds to different sporting events because we see them in our stands," senior outside hitter Jill Talbot said. "We like to give back to them. The softball team is always here and we try to go to their games as much as possible. We have such a good athletic program as a whole and it feels good to go to the other sports and give our support. "

The new rule changes implemented this season have already affected many of the top volleyball programs across the country,

The new changes - which include the rally-scoring format - have allowed less-talented teams to stay in matches.

Top-ranked Nebraska, who went undefeated last season, has already lost a match against Long Beach State.

Arizona's conference rival USC was also upset last week by Wisconsin.

Though Arizona has not yet lost a match, the scores have been closer than might have been expected in previous seasons.

Against Louisville, the scores were close even though it seemed that Arizona was dominating the play on the floor.

"We never felt out of control, but with the new changes, every game is close and any team has a chance to win," Rubio said.

Burkholder said she is doesn't have a problem with the new system because the close scores keep her focused.

Rubio said he realizes how important each point becomes in the new scoring format, but he said this will improve the team's overall play as the season progresses.

"From a fan's perspective, the game is more fun to watch," Rubio said. "From a team's perspective, we realize that there are going to me a lot of upsets this season. There are so many momentum swings with the rally -scoring format. It puts a lot more pressure on each point during the match."