Poor passing costs volleyball team one game in Washington

"We have deficiencies as every team does and passing the ball will be our number one focus," he said in August.

The question seemed to fade as No. 13 Arizona (16-4 overall, 8-4 in the Pacific 10 Conference) opened the season with 10 wins. Saturday night, however, the Wildcats' poor passing cost them their fourth loss of the season as they dropped a 3-1 decision to No. 10 Washington State in Pullman, Wash.

"It ultimately came down to the fact that we didn't pass well in games two, three and four," Rubio said.

"I can't put my finger on the reason for us not passing well. I don't think (Washington State) served that tough."

Passing is the fundamental tool in volleyball and when it breaks down, all aspects of a team often crumble.

"If a pass takes me off the net I don't have many options and have to go (to the) outside," setter Michaela Ebben said. "We became predictable and our hitting wasn't effective because there wasn't as much isolation."

As a result, UA's outside hitters - Carrie Penfield, Raelene Morton and Allison Napier - combined for 91 of the team's 182 swings.

Reserve middle blocker Marisa DaLee, who saw significant playing time after sophomore starter Erin Aldrich went down with a sprained left ankle had seven kills and one error.

Rubio said DaLee was limited, however, because the team couldn't get the ball to her.

"I think we're one of the best passing teams, we just had an off night," Ebben said.

Aldrich, who posted a .419 mark in Arizona's win over No. 18 Washington Friday night, went down in the middle of the second game and did not return to the match.

"Erin went down and it really threw us out of the rhythm of our normal sub patterns," Rubio said.

"It was really rough for us when she went down," Ebben added. "But we're good enough to play through struggles like that."

Aldrich's left ankle is the one she takes off on in the high jump and on slide attacks.

"She was in a lot of pain when she was carried off the floor," Rubio said.

He said Aldrich's status is day-to-day and added that she was able to walk on the ankle yesterday.

Friday's 3-1 win over Washington, in which Arizona rallied from a 13-10 deficit in the third game and trailed 14-10 in the fourth, was its record fifth-straight Pac-10 victory.

Arizona's weekend split helped create a four-way tie for second place in the Pac-10 between Arizona, Southern Cal, Washington and Washington State with just three weeks remaining in the regular season.

"(Friday's) was a great win. We beat a really good program and played well and everyone was contributing," Rubio said. "In fact, we were playing very, very well (Saturday) before Erin got hurt and were really in control."