Volleyball team pleased with weekend split

After pulling off a win against No. 17 UCLA Friday in a five game match that lasted three hours, the Wildcats were unable to get anything going against eighth-ranked Southern Cal Saturday.

Arizona lasted just over an hour as it lost to USC, 15-1, 15-4, 15-3.

"I don't know how much of a factor the long match against UCLA was. We certainly didn't play well. We just got drilled," Rubio said. "USC is a very, very good team. We played in a different venue that was much smaller and was very loud. The bottom line is we didn't execute and USC was running on all cylinders."

The match took place in North Gym, which holds 1,000. The place seemed packed with 705 in attendance Saturday.

Arizona, who was attempting to set a school record with its 10th consecutive win, fell to 9-1 overall, 1-1 Pacific 10 Conference.

The Wildcats came out flat from the start as the Trojans opened the match with a 9-0 lead. Middle blocker Jasmina Marinkovic, the nation's leader in hitting percentage, had an error-free performance at the net, recording 10 kills in 13 attempts for a .769 percentage.

"USC wasn't going to be reckoned with that night," Rubio said.

As a team, Southern Cal outhit Arizona .446 to .087. Arizona's best effort came from a five kill performance by freshman Allison Napier.

"Every person played well on their team and every person on our team didn't," senior Michaela Ebben said. "We just didn't get very much flowing."

The Wildcats played differently against the Bruins on Friday though. Sophomore Raelene Morton set career highs in kills (14) and service aces (5). Ebben matched her career best with 66 assists, with many of them going to Carrie Penfield, who led Arizona with 22 kills. UA also outblocked the Bruins, 22 to 14.

The 16-14, 6-15, 14-16, 15-4, 15-13 win was just UA's second ever at Pauley Pavilion.

"It was a wonderful match and a terrific win for the program. Especially because we were playing in our conference opener and to pull off the win in the fashion that we did," Rubio said.

"We showed great tenacity being down 2-1 and it was great to pull off the win. Regardless of the match against USC, it turned out to be a positive (weekend)."