Top 5 Moments of 2016

Two-thousand and sixteen was a season to remember for head coach Dave Rubio and the Arizona Wildcats. Defeating eight ranked opponents, advancing to the Sweet 16 and plenty of individual milestones and record-breaking performances made for many unforgettable moments in 2016. Here are the top five:

5. Arizona Selected for Fourth Straight NCAA Tournament

GOING DANCING.

Arizona will head to East Lansing for the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.#BEARDOWN pic.twitter.com/7IdeceZE3a
— Arizona Volleyball (@ArizonaVBall) November 28, 2016

Although there was no drama for the Wildcats, whose resume was surely good enough to earn Arizona's fourth straight at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament, it's always special to hear your name called on Selection Sunday. Arizona did not have to wait long, as the Wildcats were selected to the fourth site announced on ESPNU, East Lansing, Michigan with ninth-seeded Michigan State as the host where UA would meet Cleveland State in the first round. It was the fourth straight year and 28th overall dancing for the Wildcats. For UA four-year seniors Laura Larson and Penina Snuka, it marked the first time since 2005 that seniors had been to the NCAA Tournament in all four years.

4. Arizona Ends Decade-Long Drought at Stanford

For the first time since 2005, Arizona defeats Stanford! #BearDown pic.twitter.com/8CsVoltudl
— Arizona Volleyball (@ArizonaVBall) October 15, 2016

For the greater part of the last 30 years, Stanford has set the standard in the Pac-10/12. In 71 all-time matches, Arizona had just seven wins against the mighty Cardinal. Stanford had won 19 straight in the series, every match since 2005. That changed on an October evening in Palo Alto this year when Arizona took down 12th-ranked Stanford in four sets on the Farm (25-21, 28-26, 25-27, 25-21). Penina Snuka led the Wildcats with 59 assists and 19 digs while Kendra Dahlke tied a career high with 22 kills. To make the accomplishment even sweeter, Arizona was just one of six teams to beat Stanford on its way to a national championship.

3. Snuka Surpasses 5,000 Career Assists on Her Senior Day

Senior days are always special, but the Arizona volleyball 2016 senior day represented a celebration of a program-changing senior class. Arizona celebrated the careers of Penina Snuka, Laura Larson, Kalei Mau, McKenna Painton and Katarina Pilepic in an emotional ceremony prior to the game. And then serendipity took over. The Wildcats defeated 17th-ranked Utah for UA's 81st win over the last four years, making the senior class the winningest since 2003 with the win. In the second set, Snuka reached the 5,000 assist mark, becoming just the second player in school history to accomplish the feat.

2. Arizona Sweeps USC and UCLA for the First Time in School History

For the first time ever @ArizonaVBall sweeps the LA schools for the season.#BearDown pic.twitter.com/QZoZOFa9yH
— Arizona Athletics (@AZATHLETICS) November 5, 2016

USC and UCLA have been in the same conversation with Stanford as the aforementioned standard in the conference the last few decades. And though the Wildcats have fared far better against the Southern California duo than Stanford historically, Arizona had never swept the schools in school history. In early October, Arizona took off for Los Angeles with its season in the balance. Twenty-second-ranked USC and No. 18 UCLA awaited Arizona, which had lost all five matches vs. ranked opponents to that point. The Cats turned things around in a big way with a road-sweep of USC, their first win over USC in the Galen Center since its opening in 2006. Two nights later, things were looking bleak against the Bruins as Arizona went to the locker room down 0-2 in two noncompetitive sets. Arizona went on to win the final three sets to complete the improbable thrilling five-set comeback. A month later, USC and UCLA came to Tucson. UA found itself down 2-1 to USC in the before coming back to take down the 25th-ranked Trojans. In the final match of the weekend, Arizona celebrated head coach Dave Rubio's 25th year with a quarter-century reunion. Arizona swept No. 9 UCLA on an emotional Friday afternoon. It marked the first time in prgram history that Arizona had swept the season series with both USC and UCLA.

1. Arizona Takes Down Michigan State to Advance to Sweet 16

Winner winner! pic.twitter.com/xWJj56owUJ
— Arizona Volleyball (@ArizonaVBall) December 4, 2016

After sweeping Cleveland State in the first round, Arizona faced a tall task in round 2: take down ninth-seeded Michigan State in its home gym in front of 2,500 green-and-white-clad fans, or go home. Arizona chose the former. In perhaps the team's best performance of 2016, Arizona defeated Big 10 foe Michigan State in five thrilling sets to advance to the program's eighth Sweet 16 and first since 2005. Arizona hit .311 in the match with Kalei Mau (23 kills, .321 hitting) and Kendra Dahlke (22 kills, .314 hitting) leading the way.

Players Mentioned

Kendra Dahlke

Laura Larson

Kalei Mau

McKenna Painton

Katarina Pilepic

Penina Snuka

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