Whether or not the month of December is the most wonderful time of the year, it's definitely the most important time of the year for the UA volleyball team, which begins its road to the Final Four tonight against Wisconsin.
No. 22 Arizona (17-14, 10-8 Pacific 10 Conference) opens NCAA tournament play tonight against the Badgers (21-10, 13-7 Big 10 Conference) in College Station, Texas, on the campus of Texas A&M. If the Wildcats win, they would face the winner of the today's matchup between Nicholls State (18-14, 13-7 Southland Conference) and No. 24 Texas A&M (21-9, 13-7 Big XII) tomorrow. Host Texas A&M is the tournament's No. 16 seed.
"I've always approached it where the most important time of the year is the postseason," said UA head coach Dave Rubio. "We're not in a position where we are going to contend or win the conference championship every single year. This conference is too strong, but we know that the fourth- or fifth-place team in our conference could get to the Final Four because of the strength of the conference."
Arizona has been to 19 tournaments - 10th most in NCAA history - is 12-3 in its last four tourney appearances, has reached the Sweet 16 the last four seasons, and made it as far as the Elite Eight in the last three. Including their Final Four year in 2001, the Wildcats have lost to either the eventual national champion or the runner up in each of the last five tourneys.
"My attitude has always been to try and peak the team and have it playing its best volleyball at the end of the season and really focus on the postseason," Rubio said.
After the Wildcats started the season 6-9 and 0-5 in the Pac-10, they went 11-5 the rest of the way. During that span, Arizona only lost to one team ranked below No. 8 in the current poll. That loss was to No. 20 UC Santa Barbara last week on the road.
"I think last week was just kind of like a fluke, so if we just play how we can play and how we've been playing before that, I think we'll be fine," said sophomore outside hitter Jennifer Abernathy.
Arizona and Wisconsin's stats are almost the same, but against common opponents, Arizona went 2-1, beating No. 4-seed Pepperdine and splitting a pair with 12th-seeded Washington (19-8). The Badgers lost 3-0 to both the Waves and Huskies.
"We have to take it one game at time and come out playing strong," said freshman setter Stephanie Butkus. "I'm really excited. This is the first time going into it, and it's a relief to know that we've made it there, but now we have to work hard, because we still have a shot to get to the Final Four."
This is Wisconsin's 12th tournament berth. The Badgers bowed out in the second round last year.
Though the two teams have never met, Arizona has owned the rest of the Big Ten, having a 14-2 record against the other 10 teams in the conference.
"They're a team that has a long history of success in the postseason," Rubio said. "They come from a conference which is the second best conference in the country."
The Big Ten is led in kills by sophomore outside Aubrey Meirotto's 415 kills, but four Badgers have 300 or more kills this season. Morgan Shields leads the team in assists, with 1,578, compared to Butkus, who has 1,231 for Arizona, third in the Pac-10.
"On film, they're a solid team, but they're not a team that's going to get to the Final Four and win a national championship," Rubio said.
Arizona is 12-7 in first-round matches and hasn't been knocked out in its first tournament match the last five years. The UA is 3-1 in the first round on neutral courts and 4-2 in the second round when the road team is the host. The Wildcats have never played a second-round match at a neutral site.
Texas A&M finished tied for third in the Big 12 with Colorado. The Aggies limp into the postseason after losing two of their final three matches and four of eight.
Should the Aggies advance, their match with the Arizona/Wisconsin winner will be broadcast live on aggieathletics.com, Texas A&M's web site. The match starts at 6 p.m. MST.
The Aggies' first round opponent, tournament rookie Nicholls State, got in by beating the top three seeds in its conference tournament. The Aggies-Lady Colonels match follows Arizona-Wisconsin.