The Arizona women's volleyball team opens the home portion of its schedule today in the Doubletree Wildcat Classic. The field for the tournament, which concludes tomorrow, includes St. Mary's, Eastern Washington, Portland and Utah State.

This will be the start of the season for St. Mary's. The Gaels recently beat California in a scrimmage, but their first real match will be against Arizona at 12:30 p.m. today.

The first match of the tournament gets underway at 10 a.m. with the Eastern Washington Eagles facing Utah State Aggies, which posted its first victory since Nov. 11, 1994, defeating Abilene Christian 3-0 earlier this season. Eastern Washington beat Tulsa on Monday. Portland will play Eastern Washington at 5 p.m. Portland (1-3) took part in the Taco Bell Invitational in Reno, Nev., last week and defeated Southern Methodist 3-0.

"All the teams that are coming in are very well coached," Arizona head coach Dave Rubio said. "I think they may not compete on the same level that we compete on a regular basis, but it's still a great opportunity for us to evolve our lineup and to give a lot of players playing time, to see where we are and to experiment a little bit."

The starting lineup for the Wildcats will be junior Michaela Ebben at setter, sophomore Keisha Johnson and junior Stephanie Venne at middle blocker, senior Barb Bell and junior Carolyn Penfield at left-side outside hitter, and junior Michelle Fanger is probable at right-side outside hitter. Key substitutes are senior outside hitter Heidi Bomberger and junior defensive specialist Sara Johnson. Fanger pulled a stomach muscle in first game of the Arizona State Invitational and may play, although sparingly.

"If she doesn't play we'll have to move Barb over to the right and play Heidi and Carrie opposite," Rubio said. "Barb won't get as many swings and she doesn't get to hit as much, which means the ball is in someone else's hands when you really want it in Barb's."

Arizona won all three of its matches last week in Tempe. The Wildcats did not lose a game on their way to victories over Northern Arizona (15-10,15-6,15-4), Wright State (15-5,15-9,16-4), and Northern Iowa (15-4,15-13,15-6). Bell led the team in kills and digs with 43 and 33, respectively. Her play earned her a spot on the all-tournament team. In her first start, Ebben, replacing the departed Laura Bartsch, led the team in assists with 101. She also recorded 9 kills, 7 blocks and 16 digs.

"Michaela's getting more confident and feeling better about the offense we're running, has a better idea what her play selection should be and what her set selection should be," Rubio said. "As time goes on she'll feel even better and more confident and come into her own a little bit."

This will be the first of two tournaments at home for the Wildcats. The second tournament will be the Doubletree Invitational, featuring teams from Cal-State Northridge, San Diego State and Loyola Marymount. Being at home could be considered an advantage, but Rubio disagrees.

"It's nice to be at home but there are a lot of distractions when you are at home," Rubio said. "It should be a chance to see how we handle all of the distractions.

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