Nemesis Santa Clara tops Arizona again despite seniors’ efforts
Although the Arizona volleyball team ultimately came up short, falling to Santa Clara in a five-game battle in the Elite Eight on Dec. 11, the squad was the best UA head coach Dave Rubio had seen in four years.
“It really is one of the best teams I’ve ever coached,” Rubio said. “It’s just unfortunate that we weren’t able to get to the Final Four. Certainly we were close. It certainly ranks as one of the top teams for me.”
Arizona’s loss (22-30, 30-24, 30-26, 15-30, 17-15) to the Broncos (27-4) denied the Wildcats a trip to the Final Four in San Antonio eventually won by conference rival Washington, and served as Arizona’s second loss to Santa Clara this season.
The Wildcats (25-6) lost to Santa Clara on Sept. 9 in four games, accounting for Arizona’s only non-conference loss prior to the postseason. The last time Arizona appeared in the Final Four was in 2001.
“We weren’t caught off-guard,” Rubio said. “They just played really well. And I thought that we played like we’ve been playing all year long, which was kind of well enough to stay in the match.
“We certainly had our opportunities,” he said. “You just hope that you can play well enough to win and we just couldn’t do that. We just weren’t able to get it done.”
Arizona, a No.4 overall seed, pulled off a five-game win (35-37, 30-23, 26-30, 30-18, 15-12) against Ohio (33-3) in the Sweet Sixteen the day before.
With the departure of seniors Kim Glass, Jennifer Abernathy, Bre Ladd and Angie Ayers, Rubio will look to next year’s senior class — setter Stephanie Butkus and opposite hitter Kristina Baum — to provide veteran leadership come the fall.
In addition, freshmen opposite hitter Randy Goodenough and outside hitter Brooke Buringrud are expected to carry the brunt of the offense.
Goodenough saw playing time in 41 games this season while Buringrud was used in 13 games.
Glass and Abernathy are currently playing professional volleyball in Italy and Puerto Rico, respectively.
“I think anytime that your players can go on and play post-collegiately then I think it’s a good statement of the type of athletes that you’ve recruited in your program and also the type of training that they received when they were here in the program,” Rubio said.
Glass, co-MVP of the Stanford Regional and a three-time All-American, is playing for Sport Society Alfieri Volley Santeramo while Abernathy competes for a team in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.
Glass left Tucson as Arizona’s career leader in kills (2,151) and ranks third in kills in the Pacific 10 Conference. Abernathy, a third-team All-American named to the all-tournament team at the Stanford Regional, ranked second on the team in kills per game (4.11) and digs per game (3.33).
Rubio said that next season will probably be a rebuilding year for the Wildcats, but he is unsure where Arizona will stack up in the Pac-10, arguably the nation’s most competitive conference.
“I think it’s too early to tell,” Rubio said. “I’ll have a better idea after we finish the spring season and see how the young kids develop and get a little seasoning. Obviously, any team’s going to have a transition from one year to the next when you lose three quality players like we’ve lost. That’s the beauty of collegiate athletics.”