TEMPE - Although the statistics may suggest otherwise, the No. 12 Arizona volleyball team struggled in its sweep over in-state rival ASU Friday night in Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe.
The Wildcats (12-2, 4-1 Pacific 10 Conference) out-hit the Sun Devils (6-9, 1-4) .310 to .099 in a 30-22, 30-26, 30-26 victory, but committed 15 serving errors to ASU's 13.
"It's hard to complain about winning ... (but) we didn't serve well," said Arizona head coach Dave Rubio. "We made too many unforced errors. You can have some, but not to that degree."
The match was closely played, with 11 ties and seven lead changes throughout the night.
"I don't think they could stop the middle," said Chandler native and sophomore middle blocker Dominique Lamb. "But they served tough.
"We had problems passing. It just came down to fundamentals," she said.
Senior outside hitter Kim Glass led the Arizona offense with 17 kills and 10 digs for her eighth double-double of the season. Fellow senior outside hitter Jennifer Abernathy kept pace with 14 kills and 11 digs.
"I was really pleased with both my left-side hitters," Rubio said. "I really liked what (Glass and Abernathy) were doing out there offensively. They didn't make very many errors."
Lamb recorded a career-high 11 kills with one error for a .769 hitting percentage, while sophomore setter Amy Dyck dished out 45 assists.
Rubio said the relationship between the setter and the middle blocker has improved significantly in the last several weeks.
"I was really pleased with Amy," Rubio said. "She's made some tremendous progress, and I'm really pleased with that."
"It's a lot of me being on time, and she knows how to set," Lamb said of Dyck. "We're just connecting right now."
The Wildcats face a tough home stand on the horizon, as they host No. 3 Stanford on Thursday and No. 13 California on Friday in McKale Center, with both games starting at 7 p.m.
Rubio said that this week's matches will demonstrate where Arizona stands among the Pac-10's elite teams.
"I'm looking forward to seeing where we are," Rubio said. "We can't give up so many points.
"We're playing well. We're just making too many unforced errors. We just need to focus in on that," he said.