The UA club men's volleyball team traveled to San Diego on Saturday to participate in a weekend exhibition designed to give Arizona its first taste of competition.

The games, dubbed a "learning weekend" by team captain Jeff Grobe, yielded mixed results. Despite dropping games versus Division I teams Cal-Irvine and Long Beach State, Arizona finished strong with victories over club teams San Diego State and Cal-Berkeley.

"(In) the games we lost we had bad passing, which led to bad ball control, making us very predictable," Grobe said.

Outside hitter Aaron Payne led the Wildcats past Cal-Berkeley 140-116. The freshman had 20 kills combined with a .580 hitting percentage. Graduate student Alan Brown posted a .830 hitting percentage and senior mid-blocker Ty Hayes added nine kills and a .500 hitting percent against San Diego State. The Wildcats defeated the Aztecs in a tight match 100-98.

The weekend featured the implementation of an experimental scoring system. Under the old system, series were determined by a best of five series. Under the trial system, series are determined by a single game played to 100 points.

The system is already experiencing some flaws.

"It gets frustrating at times; one bad quarter and it's tough to catch-up," Grobe said.

For the Wildcats, the new system hurt them in their match-up against UC-Irvine. Arizona battled the Anteaters tough, but were hurt by a poor second quarter that left the Wildcats down early. UA stormed back, but fell short 100-92.

Up next for the Arizona men's volleyball team is a weekend tournament at home. The tournament will feature teams from ASU, NAU and local club squads. All games will be on played on Saturday in Bear Down Gym. The Wildcats start their regular season in the beginning of January.