Like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Arizona volleyball team metamorphosed after beating the Oregon Ducks on Friday in an error-prone match, coming back yesterday to pound the 25th-ranked Oregon State Beavers 15-2, 15-10, 15-6 in its best match of the season .

"Talk about night and day - if people were to judge us by Friday's match it would be, 'Well, Arizona's just OK,' but if you judge us by tonight's match you're going, 'Wow, Arizona's got a chance to win it all,'" UA head coach Dave Rubio said.

The two-match sweep at McKale Center halted the Wildcats' four-game losing streak and improved their record to 13-7 overall, 4-6 in the Pacific 10 Conference. The Ducks fell to 7-13 overall and 1-9 in the Pac-10. The Beavers are now 16-6 overall and 5-6 i n the Pac-10.

The key for Arizona in yesterday's match was Rubio's decision to start middle blocker Stephanie Venne, who was a starter in the preconference tournaments but was later benched in favor of Keisha Johnson and Erin Aldrich. Venne racked up six kills, 10 digs and a serving ace against the Beavers.

"I really admire and respect Stephanie so much because she went from being a starter to really not playing hardly at all," Rubio said.

"The team plays better when she's on the floor because she adds so many things other than being just a blocker or an attacker."

Outside hitter Carolyn Penfield led the Wildcats in kills for the first time all season. Her 16 kills, two service aces and six digs with a .480 hitting percentage was her best performance of the season.

"I think that our middles are making it possible for us to split it up a lot and get it to the outside hitters," junior setter Michaela Ebben said. "Everybody's doing their job really well and putting balls away."

In the match against Oregon, the Wildcats struggled to execute. They totaled 37 attack errors and 14 service errors, which allowed the Ducks to win the first and third games. The Wildcats eventually won, 18-16, 2-15, 17-15, 7-15, 10-15.

Barb Bell led all Arizona players with 30 kills and 18 digs. Ebben had a career-high 66 assists, as well as 11 digs and seven kills.

"I think that in the beginning of the season we struggled," Ebben said. "We went through our ups and downs and I think that now if we can keep up this momentum we're going to do real well in the second half."

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