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Volleyball team heading to Sweet 16

On Friday night, the UA volleyball team accomplished what was thought to be impossible.

They swept a ranked team.

The Wildcats hit .375 as a team from the field, sweeping former UA superstar Erin Aldrich and her new team, the Texas Longhorns 15-8, 15-6, 15-7. The first two rounds were held at Gregory Gymnasium in Austin, Texas, the Longhorns' home floor.

UA head coach David Rubio was on cloud nine following his trip to the Lone Star State.

"We played a wonderful match," he said. "Sweeping Texas was way beyond what we expected tonight."

Aldrich, who transferred to Texas for her junior and senior year, was held to just nine kills.

Following the match, Aldrich could barely hide the sting of losing to her former mates.

"It does make this loss more emotional because we lost to Arizona," she said. "I began my career at Arizona and I'm ending it against Arizona and it's kind of ironic."

The Wildcats were led by junior middle blocker Marisa DaLee, who logged 12 kills in 16 attempts for a .688 kill percentage.

"The fact that we won in three really gives us confidence going into the Sweet 16," DaLee said. "Getting into the final 16 is just incredible."

In the first game, Texas jumped ahead 5-4, one of its two leads of the match. UA scored 11 of the next 14 points, winning game one15-8. Freshman outside hitters Lisa Rutledge and Stefani Saragosa paced all scorers with six kills each in the first game.

UA jumped ahead in the second game with a score of 10-3, eventually winning 15-6. The Longhorns hit just .088 from the field in game two.

"We served extremely well," Rubio said. "Texas couldn't get into any rhythm. This was one of those nights when everything seemed to be going our way."

The Wildcats started game three sluggishly, getting down by the score of 5-2 early. UA then embarked on a harrowing 9-1 run, getting up 11-6 before a Texas sideout stopped their run. Following a Longhorn point, the Wildcats rallied for the sideout and four consecutive points, winning the game 15-7, and taking the match.

The Wildcats now head to Palo Alto, Calif., where they will take on No. 2 and Pacific 10 Conference rival Stanford. The Cardinal knocked off the Santa Clara Friday night by the score of 15-9, 15-6, 11-15 and 15-5.