JON HELGASON/Arizona Daily Wildcat Senior middle blocker Stefani Saragosa (right) said she feels she is 100 percent and completely healed from a pectoral injury that limited her playing time last weekend to just three of 10 games. Saragosa and her UA teammates will take on No. 2 Nebraska and No. 14 Pepperdine at home on Saturday, after facing New Mexico on Friday.

Return of healthy middle blocker key to matches against highly-ranked Nebraska and Pepperdine

The Wildcats found out the hard way how tough it was to play with an unhealthy senior middle blocker Stefani Saragosa last weekend.

UA lost its first match to an unranked team since 1998, when it lost in three games to Louisville.

The Wildcats received some good news yesterday when Saragosa said she felt like she was back to normal ÷ and that is good news because UA women's volleyball team is preparing for No. 2 Nebraska and 14th-ranked Pepperdine this weekend.

"I feel great," said Saragosa, who played in only three of 10 games over the weekend. "I have not been able to swing until this week. I feel 100 percent and I'm just looking forward to this weekend's matches. It is going to be filled with some great volleyball."

Saragosa's return brings smiles to the faces of many of UA's outside hitters.

In Arizona's (2-1) loss to Louisville, the Wildcats' offensive attack lacked a middle attack and the Cardinals defense shadowed UA's outside hitters.

"We had no middle attack over the weekend," Arizona head coach David Rubio said. "We need to find a way to get our middles involved so it opens up the court for the other hitters."

Besides Saragosa, UA freshman Bre Ladd will try to improve on her match against Louisville that saw her hit a dismal -.85, without recording a kill.

"Our middles are so talented," freshman outside hitter Kim Glass said. "Bre and Stefani are amazing players."

Besides being an offensive threat at the net, middle blockers are the first line of defense ö and Saragosa said UA's middle blockers have to do a better job blocking at the net.

Tomorrow marks the return of Arizona volleyball alumna Kelley Silva, who was a three-year letter winner from 1980-1982.

Silva, a graduate from Catalina High School comes home to Tucson as the head coach of New Mexico.

Silva also coached at Northern Arizona University for nine seasons, but she never returned to Tucson to take on the Wildcats.

"It is exciting to come home," Silva said. "I am looking forward to the challenge of playing against the Wildcats."

During her nine-year tenure at NAU, Silva approached Rubio about NAU playing Arizona, however Arizona did not oblige to her request.

Silva wanted to play the Wildcats under the condition that a match would play at each campus, however she claims that Arizona did not want to travel to NAU due to the Lumberjacks' impressive home record.

"At NAU, I always wanted to play UA, but to be honest they did not want to travel to play us because it was such a high-risk match," Silva said. "At one time, we had a 38-4 home record ÷ and when you are a top team like Arizona, you can't afford to lose to a low-rank opponent."

Silva will finally get her chance tomorrow night at 7 p.m.