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By Sam Spiller
Arizona Daily Wildcat
November 22, 1996
At 7:30 tonight, the 20th-ranked Arizona volleyball team will play its last match of the regular season against California, possibly its easiest opponent.Cal's pushover status was well earned.
The Golden Bears are 7-13 overall, 3-13 in the Pacific 10 Conference. The only Pac-10 schools that Cal has beaten this season are Oregon and Oregon State. The win over OSU was its best of the season.
The Wildcats, on the other hand, are most likely headed to the NCAA Tournament with a record of 18-8 overall, 9-7 in the Pac-10. They played No. 2 Stanford late last night. Going into the match with Stanford they had a four-game winning streak.
"Our chances of getting into the NCAA Tournament look pretty good now, but we still have two more matches and then we can focus on the postseason," UA head coach Dave Rubio said.
Arizona leads the overall series with Cal 16-6. In fact, the Wildcats have not lost in Berkeley since 1992. After last weekend's sweep of No. 15 Washington and No. 8 Washington State, Rubio said that they had to prepare for the Cal match more than they had to for Stanford.
The Golden Bears are led by Jessica Dinaberg and Michelle Wickman, who have 267 and 265 kills, respectively. Jennifer Kriste and Lynn Guevara have been splitting time at the setter position. Dinaberg is fourth in the conference in digs per game. Wickman's five service aces against Oregon was the best of anyone in conference play.
Leading the Wildcats will be Pac-10 player of the week Barb Bell. Bell is fourth in the conference in kills per game and had 31 kills last weekend. This will be the last regular-season match for Bell and fellow senior Heidi Bomberger. The starting lineup will include outside hitters Bell, Michelle Fanger and Carolyn Penfield, middle blockers Stephanie Venne and Erin Aldrich, and setter Michaela Ebben.
"It's been a neat evolution for us from the beginning of the season to where we are now," Rubio said.
Ebben had a career night against WSU last weekend. Her 62 assists came in only three games, and her weekend total of 102 was in just six games.
"Michaela played a great match (against Washington State)," Rubio said.
"This was the best weekend she's had. She ran the offense and was real composed. I liked the personality she demonstrated on the floor."
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