Volleyball splits with SoCal teams


By Lindsey Frazier
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Monday, October 24, 2005

When it comes to USC, records and rankings can be thrown right out the window when determining if the Arizona volleyball team should have the advantage.

A week after bringing down then-No. 3 Stanford in five games to snap a five-match losing streak to the Cardinal, the No. 8 Wildcats were unable to turn the trick against No. 19 Southern California.

The Wildcats (15-3, 7-2 Pacific 10 Conference) fell 28-30, 30-27, 28-30, 23-30 in Los Angeles on Saturday for their seventh consecutive loss to USC (10-7, 6-3). The loss halted Arizona's four-match win streak.

"It was frustrating because we had too many unforced errors and didn't really put ourselves in a position to take advantage of the strengths that we have," said Arizona head coach Dave Rubio. "We committed too many unforced errors - whether it came in the form of serving, passing or setting."

Arizona recorded nine serving errors to go with 27 attacking errors and three blocking errors.

Senior outside hitter Kim Glass racked up 22 kills, 20 digs, four blocks and three service aces. In the process, Glass recorded her 1,000th career dig, becoming the fifth player in Arizona history to record both 1,000 digs and 1,000 kills.

Fellow senior outside hitter Jennifer Abernathy recorded her seventh double-double of the season with 15 kills and 14 digs.

Senior middle blocker Bre Ladd added eight kills and a team-high five blocks while junior opposite hitter Kristina Baum had 12 kills.

Sophomore setter Amy Dyck tallied 54 assists and nine digs. Junior setter Stephanie Butkus, who is recovering from a medial collateral ligament injury, saw limited playing time, as she was used in one game.

Freshman libero Brittany Leonard had a team-high 24 digs.

Arizona was out-hit .228 to .209 and out-blocked 11-9.

In Arizona's 27-30, 30-16, 30-23, 30-28 win over No. 21 UCLA on Friday, Glass led the Wildcat offense with 23 kills and 17 digs, recording her 10th double-double of the season. Abernathy notched a double-double of her own with 18 kills and 18 digs.

"I thought that Jennifer and Kim both had really good nights against UCLA and USC. We're a left-side dominant team," Rubio said. "We need to be more balanced in the middle. Kim's been playing really well, and so has Jen, and that's one of the reasons we have been successful in the last couple of weeks."

Sophomore middle blocker Dominique Lamb had a career-high eight blocks, as the Wildcats out-blocked the Bruins 13.5 to eight. She also added eight kills.

Dyck contributed 54 assists while Leonard had a career-high 27 digs. Baum tallied 11 kills and seven digs.

The Wildcats return home to McKale Center to take on No. 2 Washington on Thursday at 7 p.m., followed by Washington State on Friday at 7 p.m.

"We're certainly a different team than we played against them a few weeks ago," Rubio said. "Washington is a very low-errors team.

"Physically, we can match up with them," he said. "We just need to play a little steadier."


- Information taken from www.arizonaathletics.com.