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By Sam Spiller
Arizona Daily Wildcat
September 5, 1996
It could be a start to a solid season for the Arizona volleyball team. The Wildcats went on the road to the Arizona State Invitational in Tempe and came home victorious, winning every match in straight games."It was nice to get the season off to a good start," UA head coach Dave Rubio said. "I saw some things that we still need to work on, but overall I'm excited about the make-up of this team."
The Wildcats played Wright State, Northern Arizona and No. 21 Northern Iowa - all solid teams, but not the caliber of competition the UA will face in the Pacific 10 Conference. This weekend the Wildcats will hold the home court advantage in the 13th annual Doubletree Wildcat Classic at McKale Center.
The Wildcats dominated the teams in the ASU tournament but still aren't ranked in the top 25. It could be that they are being judged on last season's 14-14 performance or that they are being compared to the other teams in the Pac-10, which has five ranked teams.
Stanford is No. 2, Washington State No. 7, UCLA No. 11, Southern Cal No. 15 and Arizona State No. 16. This is arguably the most competitive conference in the country and the UA has to play each team twice.
Left-side outside hitter Barb Bell is moving up fast in the all-time kill list. She scored double figures in kills in all three matches at the Arizona State tournament, averaging 4.77 kills a game with a .443 percentage. Her performance earned her a spot on the all-tournament team. Her 43 kills increased her total to 1,385, 252 shy of Terry Launcher's all-time record at Arizona.
"Barb Bell was impressive," Rubio said. "She will be the one that carries us all year and I am confident that she will be able to handle the load.
The only place setter Michaela Ebben was stepping was up. In her first tournament start as a Wildcat, Ebben gave a solid performance. She recorded double figures in assists in all three games and averaged 11.2 assists per match. In the match against Wright State, she had a career-high 43 assists as well as four kills and 11 digs.
The Wildcats were not letting much get by them in the tournament, recording a total of 54 blocks. Leading the team was middle blocker Stephanie Venne with 11, middle blocker Keisha Johnson with 8, and right-side outside hitter Michelle Fanger tied Bell with 7.
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