DANIEL BERDANER/Arizona Daily Wildcat Senior Lisa Rutledge (left) and freshman Bre Ladd (right) attempt to block against Southern California last weekend. The Wildcats travel to Tempe tomorrow to take on Arizona State at 7 p.m.

The UA women's volleyball team had a strong following last season and, after advancing to the team's first Final Four, Arizona head coach David Rubio knew the team would receive even more support from the community this season.

But he never imagined it would be as great as it has been so far.

Through its first five home matches, Arizona has averaged 1,900 fans per contestö first in the Pacific 10 Conference and ninth among Division I schools.

"The crowds have been great this season," Rubio said. " After coming off a season like we had last year, I knew that we would draw more interest. The fan support has been great so far this season."

In order to gain even more support, Rubio is conducting "chalk talks" with fans about the upcoming opponent one hour before the match.

Besides Rubio, freshman Kim Glass said the fan support has been a lot better than she expected coming into her first season with the Wildcats.

"Our crowds have been awesome," Glass said. "We go out and we try every night to win, and it is great to have the support. I just want the fans to know that our team is going to get better and they will see it first hand at the end of the season."

UA's next home match is on Oct. 11 against No. 4 Stanford, which is the prelude event to Midnight Madness. Crowds in the past for Arizona's match before Midnight Madness have drawn anywhere from 3,711 fans to a Pac-10 volleyball record 7,298.

Coming into the season, Rubio knew Glass would play a huge role for the Wildcats, but the success she has had this season has been quite remarkable.

In six of Arizona's 10 matches, Glass has led or shared the lead in kills, and she leads the team in kills, kills per game, aces, digs and points.

The last freshman hitter to have the success Glass is having is former Wildcat Barb Bell, who is the only Wildcat to have been named an All-American as a freshman.

Through the first ten matches, Glass has seven more kills then Bell while playing in three less games. Glass also has a higher hitting percentage and is averaging almost one more dig per game then the former All-American.

Glass needs just 16 more kills to move into the top 10 for UA freshmen.

"Glass has been great for us," Rubio said. "She is already a great player, but she still has areas that she can improve in."

The Wildcats had slipped in the polls each week since the start of the season, but that all changed after their split against UCLA and USC over the weekend. Arizona began the season ranked sixth, then slipped to 15th last week before its matches with the Los Angeles schools.

After defeating the Bruins and playing tough against top-ranked USC, Arizona has moved back up to 11th.

Rubio said this season is going to be filled with many ups and downs and he is more concerned with improving his team than with the weekly national rakings.

"I have always believed that all that matters is the end of the year in the postseason," Rubio said. "Rankings mean nothing right now. We need to be more concerned with improving every day so we can play with the best teams."

This philosophy held true over the weekend as Arizona defeated UCLA, but was unable to come away with a win against the Trojans.

"USC is definitely the best team," Rubio said. "The race is on now and we know who the best team is. Our goal has to be to improve each day so we can try to be on their level at the end of the season.''