Volleyball begins final stretch of season in Washington

KEVIN KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat

UA senior setter Dana Burkholder sets a ball for a teammate during the Wildcats' game against USC last week. UA travels to the Northwest this weekend to take on Washington and Washington State.

With the women's volleyball team's regular season winding down, the Wildcats are in position to obtain a top seeding in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.

However, the possibility of that occurring vanishes if UA doesn't win its final four matches.

The home stretch begins for Arizona tonight as it travels to the Northwest to take on Washington and Washington State.

The fourth-ranked Wildcats (16-3 overall, 11-3 Pacific 10 Conference) have won eight-straight matches against UW, but the Huskies gave Arizona a scare in McKale Center earlier in the season by taking UA all the way to a fifth set.

Washington (11-13, 4-11 Pac-10) is in the midst of rebuilding its program, but Rubio said the Huskies are a team that will battle from the first serve to the last point of the match.

"Both schools are going to come out motivated to beat us," Rubio said. "Washington is rebuilding its program. Their coach has done an outstanding job utilizing the talent that they have. Any win against a top team, especially one in the Pac-10, is a big step in their rebuilding process."

The Huskies have lost 13 matches this season, but eight of Washington's losses have come against top-25 opponents and two others by teams ranked in the top 25 at one point this season.

To have a chance to pull off the upset, UW will look to senior outside hitter Lisa Underhill, who is eighth in Washington history with 1,072 kills in her career.

Underhill faces a steep task going against a UA team that is second in the Pac-10 in defense, holding opponents to a .186 average hitting percentage.

Another problem the Huskies face is All-American senior setter Dana Burkholder, who scorched the Huskies in their first matchup

Burkholder finished the match with her fourth career triple-double, accumulating 10 kills, 68 assists and 14 digs.

With Washington out of playoff contention, the Huskies will have an opportunity to play the role of the spoiler, of which junior middle blocker Stefani Saragosa is aware.

"Anyone in the Pac-10 can beat any school, especially Washington," Saragosa said. "They have nothing to play for except pride. We need to come out and play like it is USC on the other side of the net. We have to go on the court with the attitude that it doesn't matter who is on the other side of the net. All we can do is focus on playing Arizona volleyball."

On the other hand, Washington State (13-10, 7-8 Pac-10) is still in the hunt for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

In the latest AVCA/Coaches poll, the Cougars were ranked 33rd.

The Wildcats own a seven-match winning streak against WSU, but Rubio said it's a much different team at home.

"They tend to play better at home than they do on the road," Rubio said. "We have some tough elements facing us against a very good Cougar team."

The tough element Rubio is referring to is the 250-mile trip from Seattle to Pullman the team will make before Saturday's match against WSU.

"The most important thing for us this weekend is to try to be as well-rested as possible," Rubio said. "Right now we are playing really well and I know that we are confident. As long as we come out with confidence we will be fine this weekend."

With No. 3 Stanford coming to Tucson next weekend, it would be easy for UA to overlook the Washington schools, but junior outside hitter Lisa Rutledge said that the Wildcats are taking it one day at a time.

"It is very important that we don't look ahead," Rutledge said. "We have to practice hard every day. If we look ahead, we will lose focus, which will cause our execution level to go down and we can't afford that against the Washington schools this weekend."