KEVIN KLAUS

UA senior Dana Burkholder argues a call with the net judge during Wildcats' match against Washington last weekend in McKale Center.

Tuesday October 16, 2001

Senior setter Dana Burkholder proved her importance to the Arizona volleyball team's offense this weekend after another stellar set of games, UA head coach David Rubio said.

The senior All-American finished the weekend with 109 assists, 26 digs and 18 kills.

Burkholder also tied the University of Arizona record with her fourth career triple-double versus the Huskies on Saturday.

"We will not be able to fully understand the importance of Dana until she leaves," Rubio said. "If I was going to compare her to any athlete, I would compare her to (Green Bay Packers' quarterback) Brett Favre. She is very intelligent and she makes everyone on our team play better. Anyone who watches her play knows how important she is to our team."

Burkholder's numbers, compared to other setters nationally, appear to be below average. However, Rubio said a setter's statistics don't correlate to the talent of the individual.

Currently, Burkholder ranks 31 in the nation with a 12.62 assist per game average. Wisconsin setter Lizzy Fitzgerald leads the nation with 14.41 per game average. Also, Fitzgerald has 731 assists compared to Burkholder's 467 on the season.

"Every offense is run differently," Rubio said. "In our offense, Dana is so valuable and her numbers are where they are because that is the way our offense is run. She is just so important to the overall success of our team."

Burkholder also attacks more than most setters in the nation, making Arizona's offensive attack more balanced.

"I attack when I think it is the right time." Burkholder said. "When I have opportunities I have to take them when they come. Sometimes I forget that I am an attacker in our offense. When I attack it helps open up our offense."

One team is in sole possession of the Pacific 10 Conference lead for the first time this season.

USC (12-1 overall, 7-0 Pac-10) defeated Stanford (15-2, 7-1 Pac-10) on Saturday to take over the conference lead.

"USC is a national championship, Final Four-caliber team," Rubio said. "As a team, I feel that we are really close to being on USC's level. We went into USC earlier in the season and we played them tough. Our team knows we have the ability to be on their level."

With its victory over UCLA (10-3, 5-2 Pac-10), Stanford took over second place and UCLA and Oregon State (12-4, 5-2 Pac-10) are tied for third.

Arizona (11-3, 6-3 Pac-10) is fifth, but senior outside hitter Jill Talbot said that the Wildcats are not concerned about any other team but themselves.

"All we can do is take each match one at a time," Talbot said. "We have no control over any other team and we need to just continue to improve each time we step on the floor."

Rubio agreed, and he said he isn't concerned about conference or national rankings because he knows things generally change over the final month of conference play.

"Everything will take care of itself at the end of the year," Rubio said. "As a coach, I can't pay attention to what Stanford and USC are doing. We need to stay focused on getting better and that is all we can worry about."