DAVID HARDEN/Arizona Daily Wildcat UA sophomore Jennifer Abernathy was named Pac-10 and national player of the week yesterday for her efforts this weekend in the Bay Area.

Big weekend garners Abernathy national player of week award

If she was the best player in the country last week at just 70 percent, then the future is bright for sophomore outside hitter Jennifer Abernathy and the Arizona volleyball team.

Thanks to two dazzling performances during the Wildcats' weekend road trip to the Bay Area, Abernathy earned Sports Imports/American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I National Player of the Week honors. The announcement came yesterday afternoon, just hours after she was named Pacific 10 Conference Player of the Week.

Abernathy won the award for a career weekend in which she had 43 kills on 67 swings. She had just eight errors, for a .522 hitting percentage during matches against No. 9 Stanford and No. 6 Cal.

"She had a remarkable weekend, and anytime you can put up those kinds of numbers against that level of teams is pretty significant," said head coach Dave Rubio. "It's been a culmination of a lot of hard work. I'm happy for her, because she's worked for it."

Abernathy's performance came during the Wildcats' Bay Area weekend trip, near her hometown of Antioch, Calif. In the sweep of the Golden Bears, Abernathy had a career-high 24 kills on 34 swings. In both matches she had a total of 46 points, averaging 6.57 per game.

"I was really surprised; I mean, I was excited enough to get Pac-10 (Player of the Week)," Abernathy said.

Abernathy, who has been playing through stress fractures in her shins, estimates she's at only 70 percent, but said that she was feeling better.

Former Wildcat Shannon Torregrosa, is the only other player to win the national honor, which she took home in 2001. This is the first Pac-10 Player of the Week award for Abernathy and first for an Arizona player this year. Nineteen Wildcats have won the award.

"I think I played well because I had that drive," Abernathy said. "We need a couple W's to get into the postseason. I just wanted to win."

Creeping closer to Top 25

While they still aren't ranked in the USA Today/AVCA Coaches' poll ÷ Arizona hasn't been ranked since being upset at Arizona State in September ÷ the Wildcats received 16 votes this week, the equivalent of 34th on the national list.

Pac-10 standings shuffled

Though Southern California remained No. 1 as it has been all year, the other Pac-10 teams below them changed spots.

UCLA jumped up to No. 6 from No. 8, Cal fell from No. 6 to No. 9, Stanford moved up to No. 8 from No. 9 and Washington dropped a spot to No. 11, giving the league only four top-10 teams.

Los Angeles games mark more milestones in Pac-10

Last week was an eventful week for milestones in the Pac-10.

In addition to UA sophomore outside hitter Kim Glass getting past the 1,000-kill plateau, USC head coach Mick Haley won his 600th NCAA match and UCLA junior libero Chrissie Zartman moved into fifth place on the Bruins' assist list. Haley (600-142) has amassed a .809 winning percentage over his career, while Zartman has recorded 1,166 assists.