This weekend, the UA volleyball team has the chance to kill two birds with one stone: clinching a spot in the Big Dance and exacting revenge on the two teams that began its Pacific 10 Conference skid.
No. 25 Arizona (14-13, 8-8 Pac-10) hosts No. 11 Washington (18-7, 9-7) tonight at 7 in McKale Center and Washington State (8-19, 4-12) tomorrow at 7 p.m. Two wins would clinch a winning record for the Wildcats.
"I think they know, (but) we don't talk about it and I don't talk too much about the future," said UA head coach Dave Rubio. "I don't think this weekend is any different than the previous four weeks."
Finishing above .500 is the prerequisite for the NCAA tournament. With that secure, posting a resume that includes a 4-6 record against top 10 teams may be all the Wildcats need to get a tourney bid.
UW has only beaten two currently ranked teams - Arizona and Stanford.
"It's not something we talk about, but I think it's definitely something everybody knows and I think it's definitely something everybody wants," said sophomore middle blocker Bre Ladd about the possibility of clinching a winning record this weekend.
Since opening the conference season 0-5, the Wildcats have generally fared better the second time they have faced a Pac-10 team this season. They are hitting better, digging better, and churning out more assists, more kills and more blocks.
Ladd says the Wildcats plan to continue the trend.
"We're planning on it to continue, but I definitely think we played so much better the second half of the season," Ladd said. "I think obviously it couldn't get worse because we were 0-5."
Washington's junior outside hitter Sanja Tomasevic is third in the Pac-10 in kills, behind another pair of outside hitters: California's Mia Jerkov and UA's own Kim Glass. UW sophomore middle blocker Darla Myhre is third in the league in hitting percentage and eighth in the country, while senior MB Kara Bjorklund is hitting fourth in the Pac-10 and 12th in the nation.
Husky sophomore libero Candace Lee leads the conference in digs and freshman setter Courtney Thompson leads the Pac-10 in assists, good for fourth in the nation.
"They're a very low-error team, a team you've got to beat," Rubio said. "We're going to have to play well."
The UA began its five-match losing streak with losses to the Washington schools to open its conference schedule.
"It's easy to get pumped up for those (teams), because we did lose to them both," Ladd said. "In that aspect, yes, it's easy to get pumped up for them, but we're not taking it to any extreme because we lost to them."
Arizona has won eight of its last 12 matches, losing only to No. 1 USC, No. 2 Hawaii and twice to No. 7 Stanford. The Huskies have won three straight, though their victories are against the bottom-dwellers of the conference - Oregon, Oregon State and WSU.
Washington State upset then-No. 16 Arizona at home in the first season matchup, but the Wildcats lead the overall series, 25-11, 14-3 in Tucson. WSU's last win in Tucson came in 1995.
"They're real young and they serve exceptionally well," Rubio said of the Cougars.
WSU comes to the Grand Canyon State seeking its first sweep of the Arizona schools since 1991. But Wazzu has lost 13 of its last 16 matches since sweeping the Arizona schools in Pullman.
"When their setter (sophomore Brenn Larson) went down, it really hurt them. They are still dangerous though," Rubio said.