The No. 15 Arizona women's volleyball kept its early winning streak alive yesterday in Santa Clara, Calif., in the first round of the Bronco Invitational, but not without paying a price.
The Wildcats (4-0) swept No. 18 University of California, Santa Barbara (2-2) in three games, in a match Arizona head coach David Rubio said "wasn't pretty," to remain unbeaten in 2005.
However, junior setter Stephanie Butkus suffered a knee injury that Rubio said would sideline her for the remainder of the weekend tournament.
Rubio said Butkus' condition was unknown last night, and that she is awaiting an MRI upon the team's return to Tucson. Sophomore Amy Dyck steps into the starting setter role.
"It'll be great for Amy to get in there and run the offense with that unit, without having to worry about getting pulled," Rubio said.
Arizona handed the Gauchos their first back-to-back sweep losses in nearly a decade. Florida swept UCSB on Saturday.
Game Info Arizona at Santa Clara |
The 257th win of his career brings Rubio within two matches of surpassing Rosie Wegrich as the program's all-time career wins leader.
"(Records) are the things you think about at the end of your career," Rubio said.
The tournament continues today when Arizona takes on No. 25 Santa Clara at 4:30 p.m.
The Broncos defeated the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and host UC Irvine last weekend en route to the championship of the Holiday Inn-Costa Mesa Sunset Classic.
"(Santa Clara has a) great coach, Jon Wallace, (and) a terrific program," Rubio said. "They've always been one of the better teams in the country."
Four Broncos were named to the all-tournament team, including this week's West Coast Conference Player of the Week Kim McGiven. The junior outside hitter averaged 6.88 kills per game and 3.13 digs per game in the tournament.
Arizona is 4-1 all-time against Santa Clara. In the last matchup between the two teams, the Wildcats fell 3-1 in McKale Center on Sept. 4, 2003.
The tournament concludes tomorrow when the Wildcats compete against Fresno State at 12:30 p.m.
The Bulldogs split the San Francisco Powerade/Asics Classic to begin the season, falling to William and Mary but rebounding to defeat North Carolina and Long Island. Fresno State lost the final game of the tournament to host San Francisco.
"Fresno State is a rebuilding program," Rubio said. "They have a new coach. We'll see how it goes there."