JOSHUA SILLS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Freshman volleyball player Enobong Ibok prepares to leave yesterday's UA volleyball media gathering at McKale Center. Her brother, Ibok Ibok, is a lineman for the UTEP football team.

Freshman volleyball player Enobong Ibok and football player Peter Graniello know all about UTEP football; both have brothers on the team

Arizona will face a familiar football foe Saturday night in UTEP, though not just because the two southwestern schools were once conference rivals.

Freshman volleyball player Enobong Ibok and freshman football player Peter Graniello each have brothers on the UTEP football team.

Ibok Ibok and Ben Graniello both start for the Miners. Enobong Ibok, whose nickname is "E," is excited about the game and first heard about the matchup from her brother during the

summer. The Miners are traveling to Tucson by bus and are leaving right after the game, leaving Enobong without an opportunity to see her brother, since the UA volleyball team heads west to open its season.

"E," an El Paso native, said her entire family was going to come to Tucson this weekend, but the volleyball team is in Malibu for the weekend for the Pepperdine Classic.

Her brother has been giving Enobong some friendly ribbing.

"He says they're going to beat them. I don't know," she said. "I've heard it from both sides. I've seen it from UTEP's point of view, seeing last year how Arizona did, they're really pumped about winning their first game but a bunch of people here think this will be the game that starts them out for a really good

season." Enobong said she is rooting for the Miners to the chagrin of teammates and UA athletic department workers at Arizona's volleyball media day yesterday.

"Actually, I think I'm rooting for UTEP," joked Enobong, shortly before being strangled by teammate Bre Ladd.

Though she hasn't been able to see this year's Miners, Enobong thinks the Wildcats, a 21 1/2 point favorite, will win.

"I really can't say. I haven't seen UTEP play, but from what I've seen from Arizona I think they're probably going to win," she said.

Other than ASU, UTEP is the single opponent that UA's football team has played the most. The series dates back to 1916.

Arizona has won the last 11 meetings and leads the series 37-11-2 against their former Border and Western Athletic Conference brethren.

Also, in a story that appeared in ESPN the magazine, UTEP kicker Holly Cohen is an ex-girlfriend of former UA defensive end Brad Brittain, who left the Wildcat squad during camp. Cohen, who is bidding to be the first female to score in a division I-A football game, will not be making the trip to Tucson, however, as she only started practicing with the Miners earlier this week.

Enobong's family is very athletic. In addition to Ibok Ibok playing football for UTEP, her sister Mercy played volleyball for Long Island University.

Enobong's athletic ability has impressed teammates and her coaches on the volleyball team.

Her size (6-foot-3), athletic ability and work ethic convinced volleyball head coach Dave Rubio to take a flyer on her, even though she only started playing volleyball two years ago, for the Club Sun City, after her junior year of high school.

"Enobong was one of those unheralded players," Rubio said. "She didn't get a lot of looks because she wasn't as visible, because she didn't play in many tournaments. I just felt like it was worth the risk in recruiting someone like that and just know that in three years I'm going to have someone special."

Rubio has been very impressed with Enobong, who also played basketball and ran track, and will redshirt this year.

"She has lived up to all my expectations, if not more, and I'm very excited about that," he said. "I know that eventually she is going to be a big part of this volleyball team."

"I love E. I think she's a great addition to our team, she's very, very free spirited and goofy," Ladd said. "You can tell she works so hard, she is just doing everything she can to improve and I admire her for that. She's had a great attitude about that, she knows she's not going to play this year and you can't ask for a better attitude on someone who knows they're not going to play, and I definitely admire her for that."

Ladd, the high school National Player of the Year in 2001, knows a little about volleyball and thinks Enobong will really be a force.

"I think she's going to be a monster," Ladd said. "She's very physical, when she learns the game and learns her body and her abilities she is going to be an absolute monster at the net."