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Volleyball wins 2 of 3 games in Nebraska tournament

With the team at full strength for the first time all season, the UA women's volleyball team took two of three matches at the U.S. Bank Tournament in Lincoln, Neb..

Sweeps over San Diego State and South Florida set the Wildcats up for Saturday night's showdown against fifth-ranked Nebraska. The Cornhuskers though, swept the Wildcats, as poor passing cheapened a hard-fought weekend.

"We gelled pretty well," head coach David Rubio said. "But we're still a long way off of where we'd like to be."

Friday night's match saw the Wildcats take on San Diego State, a team that has given UA fits over the past few years.

Freshman Shannon Torregrosa posted a career-high 17 kills while carrying a .429 kill percentage. Sophomore setter Dana Burkholder in her first match of the season since representing the United States in the World Junior Games, recorded 43 assists along with seven kills to guide the Wildcats to a 15-12, 15-9 and 15-9 victory.

Saturday saw UA dismantle South Florida, a team that posted a 25-8 record a year ago.

Sophomore outside hitter Jill Talbot managed a double-double in kills and digs while Burkholder recorded another 40 assists as the Wildcats beat the Bulls, 15-12, 15-5 and 15-9.

The Huskers, ranked in the preseason top-five, had suffered losses to both No. 1 Pacific and No. 2 Penn State in the past week, and the Wildcats, whose lack of success against ranked teams in the recent past has prevented them from taking it to the next level, were both looking for a breakout game. The Huskers got it as they proved Arizona still has a long way to go by winning 15-12, 16-14 and 15-9.

Serving for victory in the second game, the Wildcats' poor passing and inability to make the big play, cost them and they fell 16-14.

"We felt right in the match," Rubio said. "We just couldn't put it away. Our fundamentals aren't that good yet."

Nebraska outside hitter Mandy Meendering recorded 12 kills and 10 digs and was named tournament MVP, while Talbot and Burkholder represented Arizona on the all-tournament team.

"Jill (Talbot) had a great weekend," Rubio said. "For the first time in a while, she was consistent. She's a tremendous athlete."

The pair became the second and third Wildcats to be named to all-tournament teams in the past week. Junior middle blocker Marisa DaLee was named to the Embassy Suites Wildcat Classic all-tournament team after a strong showing against 18th-ranked San Diego, last Saturday.

Jones, Chaplin win first career titles

The UA men's and women's cross country team started the season off on a high note this weekend with the men's team finishing first and the women's team finishing second at the Asics/UCI Invitational in Irvine, Calif..

Senior Micheil Jones won his first cross country meet of his Arizona career with a time of 24:35.20 in the 8,000-meter event.

Arizona's top four runners behind Jones finished in a tight pack. Junior David Lopez finished seventh with a time of 24:51.10, sophomore Steve Smith (24:53.10) and senior Brent Pedersen (24:56.30) finished eighth and ninth, while sophomore Tom Prindiville finished 11th with a time of 24:58.40.

"We had five runners finish within 23 seconds of each other," UA head coach Dave Murray said. "I can't recall a meet where our top five runners finished so close to each other."

The men's team won the meet with a score of 36 points, while Arizona State came in second with 62 points and Southern Utah, third with 80 points.

The women's team finished second behind ASU as the Sun Devils scored 22 points with Arizona garnering 65.

"Everyone on the team ran really well, though obviously we're not happy with the way ASU beat us," sophomore Tara Chaplin said.

Chaplin won her first cross country race of her career as well as she finished with a time of 17:32.10 in the 5,000-meter race.

Junior Katrin Engelen finished 10th with a time of 18:25.60, senior Kristen Parrish (18:27.10) was 13th, sophomore Erin Doherty (18:40.40) finished 20th and freshman Kimberly Bates (18:43.80) was 25th.

"We've been training really hard and we'll just get better as the season goes on," Chaplin said.

The Wildcats next chance to get better will be this Saturday at the Aztec Invitational at Balboa Park in San Diego.

UA looks to extend winning streak against No. 11 BYU

Another first is in the making as the UA women's soccer team (3-1-0) looks to finally beat a nationally ranked opponent when they square off with No. 11 Brigham Young (5-0-0) tonight in Provo, Utah.

"Without a doubt, we will see the best team we have played in years," UA assistant head coach Bruce Caris said of the Cougars.

BYU is an extremely fast team that uses its team speed to get behind the opposition's defense for easy scoring opportunities.

"If we can't beat them skill-wise, we can beat them heart-wise," junior forward Chrissy Sanford said.

The Wildcats come into the game with momentum on their side, as they beat Wisconsin-Milwaukee 3-2 in overtime Saturday.

"We almost put it away a couple times in the second half," Caris said. "It was as tough a game we thought it would be."

UA got off to a quick 2-0 lead with goals in the 18th and 23rd minutes, respectively. The Panthers were able to mount a furious comeback and notched the equalizer in the 68th-minute.

"We felt that was our strongest game (of the year), with the exception of about 15 minutes," Sanford said.

The game went to overtime, and the Wildcats finally put it away 14 minutes into overtime as sophomore forward Kim McGehee hit the game-winning goal.