CLAIRE LAURENCE/Arizona Daily Wildcat UA head coach Dave Rubio teaches his team proper blocking technique during practice yesterday at Bear Down Gym.

After Arizona's 3-0 win over Oregon State on Friday, volleyball head coach Dave Rubio said the Wildcats need to block better.

They did in a big way Sunday at No. 2 Hawaii.

After tallying only two blocks against the Beavers, Arizona (9-11, 3-6 Pacific 10 Conference) exploded for a season-high 20 blocks against the Rainbows, the most since 2001, when Arizona upset Southern California to make it to the Final Four.

Junior Jolene Killough had a career-high 12 block assists on the night and a season-high 20 blocks, tying her for third in total blocks in a match in Wildcat history.

Arizona's team block total tied the tenth-place mark in UA history. The school record was set in 1994 when the Cats had 32 against Brigham Young.

"I thought we did a very good job utilizing our tactics, not necessarily forcing them into things they didn't want to do, (and) maybe making them do things weren't used to doing," Rubio said.

Abernathy's career night

After becoming the first Wildcat other than fellow sophomore outside hitter Kim Glass to lead the UA in kills, Jennifer Abernathy built on that momentum to have a career night against the Rainbows.

Over Arizona's last seven matches, Abernathy has had five matches with double-digit kills, highlighted by career highs with 20 kills and 15 digs at Hawaii. She has 88 kills on a 3.52 kills per game average in that span.

"I thought we were good. It was another one of our big steps - making progress, getting better. We played very well," Abernathy said of Arizona's performances last weekend. "I think I had a slow start but I think I picked up my play very well the last three games."

Fans a factor in rivalry

When ASU rallied from a 0-2 deficit to upset the Wildcats last month, the 3,200-plus fans probably played a big role in re-energizing the home team Sun Devils.

The 3,225 in attendance for the match marked only the fourth time since 1990 the Devils drew over 3,000. It was the fourth highest mark since 1990 and the second most since 1994. The ASU school record for home attendance came in 1986 when the Devils tried to break the NCAA record, but came up short with 8,516 fans. ASU is ranked 27th in the nation in attendance this season with 982 fans per game. Last year, the UA was ranked seventh - though it would have been 13th without the pre-Midnight Madness match.

The Wildcats will look to have the same fan momentum that the Devils enjoyed last month in Tempe this Saturday in their rematch with ASU.

UA ranking stays at 34th

Despite sweeping the Oregon schools at home, Arizona received six fewer votes than last week in the USA Today/AVCA Coaches' top 25 poll.

Arizona remained listed as the 34th-ranked team, but received just 11 votes. The poll, which was released Monday, did not include the match at Hawaii, as it only factored in results up to Saturday night.

Pac-10 takes over top 10

After the first half of the Pac-10 season, the Conference of Champions has left little doubt which is the best volleyball league in the country, putting five teams in the top 10.

Led by No. 1 USC (18-0, 9-0), the Pac-10 accounts for half of the top-10. The others are No. 6 Stanford (14-4, 7-2), No. 7 Cal (16-2, 7-2), No. 9 UCLA (13-4, 5-3) and No. 10 Washington (14-4, 5-4).