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Setter takes Pac-10 Player of the Week

Following a weekend in which she had 112 assists, 18 digs and 10 blocks, sophomore setter Dana Burkholder was named the Pacific 10 Conference Player of the Week.

"Dana played incredibly well this weekend," UA head coach David Rubio said. "Saturday night's match against Washington State might have been her best match of this season."

Against the Cougars, Burkholder posted 38 assists in three games.

The sophomore, who is averaging 12.91 assists per game, is on pace to break the school record for assists per game (12.53) set by Heather McCormack in 1990.

This is the first honor for Burkholder and the second for a Wildcat this season. Junior middle blocker Marisa DaLee took the award for the week of Sept. 7.

Burkholder becomes the 10th Wildcat in history to win player of the week honors.

"The award is really well-deserved," Rubio said. "A lot of the time, when Dana has a good match, Marisa does really well too, and will get most of the accolades. It's about time Dana received the recognition."

Despite nursing shin splints, freshman outside hitter Stefani Saragosa managed 14 kills, 10 digs and seven blocks against Washington.

"Stefani really played well for us," Rubio said. "The way she played despite the injury was incredible."

Saragosa finished the match just three blocks short of her first career triple-double.

The freshman from San Diego has outplayed junior Allison Napier lately, earning herself a starting spot.

However, since returning to Tucson on Sunday, Saragosa has complained of intense pain in her shins.

"Her pain is only getting worse," Rubio said. "We're going to monitor her closely this week and see if she's ready for the weekend. This is bad news."

Rubio isn't rushing Saragosa back too soon.

"Despite the fact she's playing well, we can't push her too hard," he said. "We just have to be careful that she doesn't aggravate something."

So far this season, one of UA's main inconsistencies has been the team's inability to contain their opponent's dominant players. In an early-October match against UCLA, UA allowed Bruin outside hitter Kristee Porter to log 36 kills, the highest such total allowed in Arizona's history.

It doesn't get any easier as the Wildcats take on No. 2 Stanford this Saturday against arguably the best player they'll see all season in Cardinal freshman Logan Tom, 1999's top recruit.

Against the Wildcats earlier this season, the 6-foot-1 Tom had 16 kills and 11 digs, hitting .353 for the match.

How good is Tom?

Despite the fact that she's a true freshman, Tom has been on the cover of Sports Illustrated for Women. Stanford, despite signing just two recruits, had the nation's No. 1 recruiting class in the nation, according to Volleyball Magazine. That honor was due solely to signing Tom out of high school.

"She's not really a freshman based on experience," Rubio said. "She's been playing on international level since she was 16. She has significantly more experience in high level play than all the players in college. We can't regard her as a true freshman."

Tom was recruited heavily by the Wildcats.

"We went in for a home visit," Rubio said, "but we had the impression that she was Stanford-bound from the get-go."

According to Rubio, the Wildcats expect to beat the No. 2 Cardinals this weekend.

"I expect us to win the match," he said. "As a team, we can't just hope to beat teams like Stanford. We have to jump right in and beat them."