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Volleyball team battling ASU Friday

Joshua D. Trujillo Arizona Daily Wildcat UA's sophomore setter Dana Burkholder sets up a spike for freshman middle blocker Stefani Saragosa (#10) in a match earlier this season. The Wildcats will take on their rivals from Tempe, the Arizona State Sun Devils, tonight at 7 p.m. in McKale Center.

UA volleyball head coach David Rubio claims that, "a season cannot be won or lost depending on the outcome of one game."

If a season could be judged on one game, however, it would be tonight's 7 p.m. match against Arizona State at McKale Center.

The No. 14 Wildcats take on their rival up north in what is the most emotional, if not intense, game of the season.

Rubio, though, will not concede that tonight's match is just another game.

"It's bigger than just a game because it is the inter-state rival," Rubio said. "Anything can happen when two rivals meet. ASU has four girls who could play anywhere in the Pacific 10 Conference."

The Wildcats (9-3 overall, 3-1 Pac-10) are off to a 3-1 start in league action for only the fifth time since the team's inception in 1966. A victory over the Sun Devils would give UA its best start in team history.

"We're going to play our regulars and see how the two teams match up," Rubio said. "I feel we're at a stage where everyone knows their role."

Last weekend saw UCLA expose the Wildcats' weaknesses, pounding UA while forcing the young team to pass the ball.

"Passing is one of those basic skills that we work on with the players individually," Rubio said. "We have problems when we don't pass."

The Bruins cruised to a 3-0 sweep to embarrass the Wildcats.

"We just didn't pass the ball and subsequently got outplayed," Rubio said following the game.

However, UA rebounded to a four-game victory over Southern Cal Saturday night, a match in which freshman outside hitter Lisa Rutledge recorded a career-high 22 kills.

"The win over SC was a big win for us at this point in the season," Rubio said after defeating the 19th-ranked Trojans. "That's giving us some momentum for Arizona State."

Arizona State does not plan to go quietly.

The Sun Devils (6-4, 2-2) are aching to break a five-game losing streak to the Wildcats, dating back to November of 1996. Of those five games, three of them have been decided in the fifth game.

"ASU is hungry, fierce, and tough," Rubio said. "The rivalry is great motivation for them to come out here and beat us at home. The rivalry gets better with years."