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UA volleyball team back to full strength

Arizona Daily Wildcat AARON FARNSWORTH/Arizona Daily Wildcat Sophomore setter Dana Burkholder holds up the ball and gets the play ready yesterday at McKale Center during the Wildcats practice. Burkholder, along with freshman outside hitter Lisa Rutledge, have returned to the Wildcats from their stint on the U.S. Junior National team.

The UA women's volleyball team has a bunch of happy campers on its roster this week because sophomore Dana Burkholder and freshman Lisa Rutledge are back.

Burkholder and Rutledge have spent the past three weeks competing for the United States at the Junior National Volleyball Tournament in Saskatoon, Sas-katchewan.

With the national exposure came a high price, though.

"The food sucked," Burkholder said. "Lots of sausages. But we did learn to like the rice. You can't mess up rice."

Rutledge agreed with Burkholder's comments.

"Canada's all right," she said. "But you don't know how great it is to be back."

The team that Burkholder and Rutledge competed on came in eighth in the tournament.

"We didn't medal, but that's OK," Burkholder said. "Canada itself wasn't too great."

Although the US didn't medal, all was not lost for Burkholder and Rutledge as they represented a volleyball program that was one of only two schools to send two players to compete for the US.

The other school was national powerhouse and conference-rival Stanford.

"It says a lot about our recruiting," head coach David Rubio said. "It says we can go out there and bring in some of the best junior players in the nation. This will definitely be a great source of pride for Arizona volleyball."

The tournament also saw Burk-holder and Rutledge come together as teammates.

"She's awesome," Rutledge said of Burkholder. "Playing in this tournament with a player like Dana has really helped me grow as a player. I'm really looking forward to the new season."

The two players join a team that seems to be hitting its stride just in time.

Junior middle blocker Marisa DaLee was named Pacific 10 Conference Player of the Week after leading UA past 18th-ranked San Diego in the final game of the Embassy Suites Wildcat Classic.

Freshman Shannon Torregrosa has muscled her way into the starting lineup, nailing shots with surgeon's precision and deadly power, while junior center Alison Napier and senior outside hitter Raelene Elam complete a team that will face five of the nation's top 25 teams this season.

"Dana and Lisa are going to work themselves back into the starting lineup," Rubio said. "It's great to have all the regular faces back."

Rubio's first move will be to return sophomore Lauren Benward to the bench in favor of Burk-holder.

"If, God forbid, Dana gets hurt, we won't miss a beat," Rubio said. "Lauren will still see time, though. We're not benching her."

Burkholder and Rutledge will see their first college volleyball action of the season this weekend in Lincoln, Neb., as the Wildcats travel to play in the US Bank Tournament Friday and Saturday.