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News
Volleyball hits Oregon Trail today


By James Kelley
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Friday, November 14, 2003

With its magic number of wins needed down to three, the UA volleyball team now faces an Oregon State team also in need of wins, though of the slightly more magical variety.

Arizona (13-13, 7-8 Pacific 10 Conference) travels to Oregon State (15-12, 5-10) for OSU's senior night matchup after handling Oregon (3-21, 0-15) last night, 3-0.

The Wildcats earned their 11th consecutive win in Eugene in routine fashion, 30-22, 30-20 30-26. Sophomore outside hitter Jennifer Abernathy led the way with 18 kills on a .355 hitting percentage to go with 10 digs.

Abernathy's left-side mate, sophomore Kim Glass, had a season-low seven kills on .115 hitting, but had a match-high four aces and 11 digs.

Arizona outhit the Ducks .337 to .157, out-dug them 38 to 26 and outblocked them 12 to five.

Junior middle blocker Jolene Killough had a career-high four solo blocks in the rout.

Oregon State had its way with ASU last night, winning in straight games, 30-27, 30-16 30-23.

Like the Wildcats, the Beavers need to win three of their last five matches to finish above .500 and become postseason-eligible, but without any wins over a ranked team, it may need an upset of two.

Oregon State not only has no wins against top 25 teams - it didn't play one until Pac-10 play. OSU has only beaten Oregon and Washington State within the conference this season.

UA head coach Dave Rubio wouldn't guess if the Beavers will get an invite to the tournament.

"I don't know," Rubio said. "Every time I speculate on these things, I'm never right."

After the Arizona schools, OSU plays at No. 9 Cal and at No. 7 Stanford, then a trio of unranked teams in Pitt and either Pacific or Alabama-Birmingham in a tournament. The Beavers may need to beat the UA to keep their Big Dance hopes alive.

After sweeping the Beavers in Tucson, Arizona will be looking to win its 15th straight against Oregon State, the longest current Wildcat win streak over a Pac-10 foe.

The Beavers come into the weekend's matches fresh off after earning a split in Washington, beating the Cougars in WSU's intimidating Bohler Gym, 3-2 after trailing 0-2. The win over the Cougars is the Beavers' first win in Pullman since 1990. OSU swept the season series with WSU for the first time since 1985.

Beaver junior outside hitter Anne Watts-Roberts picked up her 1,000th career kill on the match point.

"They've been playing well. They had a great win against Washington State in five, and anytime you can beat Washington State in Washington State it's pretty remarkable," Rubio said. "It's definitely a team we can't take lightly. We can't just step on the floor and win."

Oregon State has lost six of its last eight matches overall.

Junior outside hitter Allison Lawrence and her 345 kills leads Oregon State. Lawrence is on pace to finish in the school's single-season top 10 in kills, digs and aces.

"They have good athleticism, good experience and they've got good athletes on their team," Rubio said. "It's a team that can really come and get you if you don't come out and play."

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