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CHRIS CODUTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat
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Junior Cassidy Crumb warms up before last week's match against Rhode Island.
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By James Kelley
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Thursday September 11, 2003
You can excuse UC Santa Barbara associate head coach Liz Towne-Gilbert if she wanders to the wrong bench this weekend ÷ she coached at Arizona for five years.
When the No. 14 Wildcats host the No. 10 Gauchos in the Four Points University Plaza Arizona Invitational on Friday at 7:30 p.m., Towne-Gilbert will make her return to Tucson. From 1992 to 1997, Towne-Gilbert was UA head coach Dave Rubio's top assistant.
"She has a lot of friends here and hasn't really been able to come (back) since she left," Rubio said. "I know there are a lot of people looking forward to seeing her."
Considered by some to be the best Gaucho setter ever, Towne-Gilbert returned to her alma mater last year as the school's first associate head coach.
Under Rubio and Towne-Gilbert, the Wildcats turned from perpetual Pacific 10 Conference doormats (the year before the two came to Arizona the Wildcats were 0-18 in conference play) to immediate contenders, making three straight Sweet 16 appearances from 1993 to 1995. Rubio said she played a "big part" in building the program.
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Arizona Invitational
· Friday, 10 a.m. vs. New Mexico
· Friday, 7:30 p.m. vs. UC Santa Barbara
· Saturday, 12 p.m. vs. American
· McKale Center
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"Liz and myself really built the program into what it currently is," Rubio said.
Towne-Gilbert coached current UA associate head coach Rita Johnson, the first Wildcat to have 300 kills, 300 digs and 100 blocks in a season.
Towne-Gilbert is not the reason the Wildcats play UCSB twice this year in the regular season ÷ after Pac-10 play, the Wildcats travel to Santa Barbara. Arizona just owed UCSB a home match, Rubio said.
Gaucho Milestone
Before the Gauchos face off with Arizona, they will be playing in their 1,000th match, against American University.
Gregory, the only coach the Gauchos have ever known, has garnered a 703-296 record since 1975 ÷ the sixth most wins in Division I-A history. Nicknamed "The Queen," Gregory was been named 1993 National Coach of the Year.
"Kathy Gregory, in my mind, is one of the true legends in the sport, both as a player and coach," Rubio said.
Gregory earned the nickname on the beach volleyball circuit, where she was Women's Beach Tournament Player of the Year in 1976, 1977, 1978, 1981 and 1983, and was the third woman inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame in 1989. Gregory still plays volleyball on the Santa Barbara beaches.
In the Zona
Towne-Gilbert's return to Arizona is not the only homecoming for the Gauchos. Redshirt freshman middle blocker Theresa Botsford is from Tucson.
Botsford attended Salpointe Catholic High School and played for the Zona Volleyball club. Towne-Gilbert and former UA assistant coach A.J. Malis founded the club in 1995.
Malis coached at the UA for three years, leaving last March to focus on the club and his family.
