Josh Fields/Arizona Daily Wildcat Engineering freshman Kristen Reinke digs out the ball in the Student Recreation Center. The women's club volleyball team will be competing in the Wildcat Welcome Tournament Oct. 22-25 in the Rec Center.

The Arizona women's club volleyball team may not be competing for a Pacific 10 Conference title each year, but its members' desire for a national championship is no less than for any of Dave Rubio's ladies.

While these athletes remain fierce competitors, they don't see any real animosity or competition between themselves and the Wildcats' NCAA Division-I squad.

"We've never even thought of it like that," said team President Molly Taylor.

As a member of the Mountain West Volleyball Conference, the club volleyball team competes against teams like Wyoming, Colorado State and rival Colorado - far cries from the likes of Pac-10 powerhouses Washington and Stanford.

But since the club team's conception in 1999, it has placed at nationals every year and is a perennial contender for the national title.

The team is made up of former high school volleyball players, for many of whom club volleyball is their opportunity to keep playing at a competitive level.

"I would say every girl on the team could have played somewhere else but decided to come here to go to a big college," said Taylor, a junior.

The attitude of the team is always upbeat, as chatter off the court rivals the directions called out during play in both noise and intensity. Although the practices usually consist of a lot of scrimmaging, game-day competitiveness emerges often.

The team will be playing in a few local tournaments this year, including the Wildcat Welcome at the Student Recreation Center Oct. 22-25, to warm up for the two National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association tournaments. The regional tournament is in Las Vegas this year, and nationals will be held in Salt Lake City.

At last year's nationals, a field of 60 teams competed in the women's A division, with 24 in the B division.

NIRSA ranked Arizona's A squad No. 19 after the tournament, while the B team finished seventh overall.

Even with their success, these women share more than passion for their sport. Taylor said the team is as much a social club as a volleyball team, with athletes holding team dinners, fundraisers and hang-out sessions at their homes.

"This is how they make their best friends in college," she said. "It's how I made my best friends."