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Section Header
Volleyball splits with LA schools

By Brian Penso
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Monday November 25, 2002

LOS ANGELES ÷ A night after getting swept by the top-ranked team in the country, the Arizona women's volleyball team showed once again that it will not get down after a loss.

The Wildcats came out Friday night and defeated UCLA, just hours after getting shut out against No. 1 USC.

"I really thought we were well prepared," said UA head coach David Rubio about the loss to the Trojans. "I thought that once the ball was in play, that we would be fine. USC is clearly the best team in the country."

Offensively, freshman Kim Glass played the worst match of her young career, finishing with three kills on a negative hitting percentage.

Glass has been struggling with a calf strain, but the freshman gave no excuses for her poor performance.

"I played bad," she said. " I'm not going to make any excuses. I just played bad."

As a team, Arizona hit a season-low .091 against the Trojans.

But things would be much different on night number two of the road trip.

The Wildcats (16-10 overall, 11-7 Pac-10) buckled down and earned a weekend split after beating UCLA 3-1, to finish the season tied for third in the Pac 10 Conference.

This marks only the second time in Arizona history that the Wildcats have swept the season series with the Bruins.

Freshman Bre Ladd said the team felt a bit of pressure entering the matchup with the Bruins, but the resilient response was pleasing.

"We knew we needed to win," she said. "We showed we have matured. We came off a tough loss and came back with a win."

The Bruins won the first game, but senior Lisa Rutledge and Glass stepped up their play to lead Arizona to victory.

Glass finished with a match-high 23 kills, and Rutledge added 22 kills in the victory.

Rutledge also had 21 digs for her second career 20-kill, 20-dig match.

"Kim is not 100 percent," Rubio said. "She is having problems jumping. It's going to be like this for the remainder of the season. I'm just so proud of the way Kim and Lisa played."

Glass's 23 kills gives her 425 on the season öö a new UA freshman record.

"We knew what we had to do," Glass said. "This win gives us confidence and we needed to come away with a victory."

Ladd also gave the Bruins attackers a problem at the net, as she finished with a career-high three solo blocks and a match-high seven total blocks. Ladd added nine kills as well. Besides salvaging the weekend with a victory, and Glass's resurgence on offense, UA's offensive efficiency was like night and day in the two matches.

During the USC match, senior setter Laurie Gardner was unable to set UA attackers in a good position to terminate the ball. That all changed against the Bruins.

Arizona's hitting percentage was still low at .163, but Gardner was successful in setting Rutledge, Ladd, and Glass.

Gardner finished with a match-high 56 assists.

"As a team, we passed a lot better," Gardner said. "When we play well in our serve and receive, our offense is more effective."

Arizona concludes its season this weekend on the road against Brigham Young and No. 24 Utah.

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