DaLee named Pac-10 Player of the Week

DaLee became the second Wildcat this season to be honored with the award. Keisha Johnson Demps was named Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 8.

DaLee hit .73 with 11 kills Sunday against Oregon State. In addition to being Arizona's highest hitting percentage in a Pac-10 match, it was good for fourth in Arizona history.

DaLee hit .60 with 16 kills in Arizona's five-game loss to Oregon Friday night.

In her last five matches, DaLee is hitting .58, committing only seven errors during that span. She is hitting .40 (.41 in Pac-10 play) on the season and is currently on pace to break the single-season school record of .34, set by Melissa McLinden in 1985.

"Marisa's been an easy target to set because she has a great arm swing," head coach David Rubio said. "She does a really nice job in transition."

Rubio called DaLee's understanding with freshman setter Dana Burkholder "cosmic."

"We just click," DaLee said. "We just know each other. She talks to me a lot on the court, and we've been successful the past couple weeks."

After losing to Oregon Friday night, the Wildcat volleyball team was stunned, to say the least. The Ducks came into the match as heavy underdogs with a Pac-10 record of 1-10.

"I was shocked," freshman outside hitter Lesley DuBois said. "The last point went down and I was in awe. I think in practice (Saturday) we showed up and were ready to go. The older players came in and worked their butts off, and so did the rest of us. We can learn a lot from that."

Rubio hated to sound like a broken record, but warned that Oregon was much better than its record indicated.

He will not have to do much to get his team ready for this weekend, however. Arizona travels to Los Angeles to take on No. 11 Southern Cal Friday and UCLA Sunday.

"Now I'm thinking of USC, about the L.A. schools," Rubio said. "I'm excited to play good teams."

Bryan Rosenbaum can be reached via e-mail at Bryan.Rosenbaum@wildcat.arizona.edu.