#19 Arizona (16-9, 10-6) vs. Oregon (7-18, 1-15)/Oregon State (8-16, 2-14)
Nov. 19/20, 1999
Matches #26-27
THIS WEEK: No. 19 Arizona (16-9, 10-6) wraps up its 1999 Pac-10 schedule
with a trip to the Oregon schools. The Cats can match their best-ever
league record (12-6) and finish (4th) with a sweep of this weekend's
competition. UA has already clinched at least a tie for fourth and needs
just one win this weekend (or one ASU loss) to finish alone in fourth for
the second straight year.
WILDCAT NOTES: Arizona equaled its best-ever 14- and 15- match starts in
Pac-10 play at 9-5 and 10-5. If the Cats win their final two league
contests this weekend, they will match their best-ever conference mark of
12-6, set in 1997 and '98 ... The Cats swept the Washington schools on the
road for just the fourth time since Pac-10 play started in 1986, but for
the second year in a row ... Arizona's 21-19 victory in game five of its
match with Washington (9/5) marked the second-longest fifth game in school
history. Arizona State defeated Arizona, 24-22, in Tucson on Oct. 15, 1993
... The Cats took two games and forced three match points against UCLA
(10/22) after the Bruins had lost just two games in their first 10 league
contests ... Arizona (.220) was the first team to hit better than .200
against UCLA this season ... Arizona faced three consecutive ranked
opponents (#17 Southern California, #6 UCLA, #8 Brigham Young) for the
first time since November 15-21, 1996 ... Prior to defeating Arizona State
(10/30), UA had dropped three straight contests for the first time since
Oct. 6-19, 1996 ... The Cats were swept in a home Pac-10 weekend series
(vs. USC/UCLA) for the first time since the same two schools did so on Nov.
10 and 12, 1995 ... UCLA sophomore Kristee Porter's 36 kills at Arizona
(10/22) were the most ever by a Wildcat opponent ... The Cats' loss to
Arizona State (10/1) broke a streak of 24 consecutive matches they had won
when they out-hit their opponent ... The Cats' sweep of Oregon (9/17)
marked the sixth time they had held a Pac-10 opponent below a .100 hitting
percentage in each game of a match ... The 3,874 people in attendance at
the Arizona-Nebraska match (9/11) marked the sixth-largest crowd ever to
see a Wildcat volleyball contest ... The Cats rank 20th nationally in
attendance, averaging 961 fans per match ... Arizona remained fifth in the
Nov. 3 District 8 rankings ... The Cats' sweep of No. 18 San Diego (9/4)
was their first victory over a ranked opponent since a five-game win at
home against No. 7 USC on Nov. 21, 1997, breaking a seven-match losing
streak ... Seven of the Cats' 1999 opponents were ranked in the AVCA
preseason poll, including three of the top four: Stanford (No. 2); Nebraska
(3); and Hawaii (4) ... Arizona was featured on FOX Sports Net's Pac-10
Game of the Week three times: at UCLA (9/24); vs. WSU (10/8); and at
Stanford (10/15).
ROAD WARRIORS: Arizona is 5-2 in Pac-10 road matches, having won its last
four contests away from Tucson. With only a trip to Oregon and Oregon State
remaining, the Cats have a chance to equal or better their best Pac-10 road
mark ever. In each of the last two seasons, Arizona has gone 6-3 on the
road in conference action. Prior to 1997, the Cats had never posted a
winning league record away from McKale. Overall, Arizona is 6-3 on the
road, losing only to Top-10 foes Stanford, UCLA and Nebraska.
SEBBAS SHINES: Subbing for the injured Stefani Saragosa, sophomore middle
blocker Erin Sebbas stepped in as if she'd been starting all year. Sebbas,
who had just five kills and six blocks in her one-and-a-half year career
prior to the Cats' contest vs. California (11/12), posted a double-double
against the Bears. She hit .381 (10-2-21) and recorded a match-best 10
blocks. She again performed admirably the next night against Stanford, when
she led all Wildcats with five blocks.
SARAGOSA INJURED: Starting middle blocker Stefani Saragosa missed the
California/Stanford weekend (11/12-13) with periostostitus of the left leg.
Saragosa is resting the leg in an attempt to prevent the development of a
stress fracture. Her status for the Oregon trip (11/19-20) is unknown.
PAC-10 HONORS: Sophomore setter Dana Burkholder was named the Pac-10 Player
of the Week (11/8) after leading the Cats to a road sweep of the Washington
schools.
Burkholder posted 74 assists and a career-high seven blocks in the Cats'
five-game win at Washington (11/5). The assist total was the fifth-best in
Arizona history. In UA's sweep of Washington State, she added 38 assists.
For the week, Burkholder averaged 14.0 assists per game and totaled 18 digs
and 10 blocks. It was the first such honor of her career and the 11th ever
by a Wildcat.
TRIPLE-DOUBLE: Sophomore setter Dana Burkholder posted her first career
triple-double in the Cats' five-game loss to UCLA (10/22). The Bakersfield,
Calif., native recorded a career-high 11 kills to go along with 70 assists
(a then-season-best mark) and 14 digs. Her triple-double was the 18th in
Arizona history and the fourth by a Wildcat setter. The last UA setter to
accomplish the feat was Mary Linton vs. Stanford on Nov. 12, 1989. Earlier
this year vs. Santa Clara (9/3), junior Marisa DaLee came within one dig of
her first career triple-double.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES: Jill Talbot hit a career-best .600 (10-1-15) at
Washington State (11/6) ... Dana Burkholder set a career-high with seven
blocks at Washington (11/5) and posted the fifth-best single-match assist
total (74) in Arizona history ... Lisa Rutledge's 24 kills in the
Washington match were the most by a Wildcat since Keisha Johnson's 25 at
Oregon State (11/16/97) ... Stefani Saragosa set season-best marks in kills
(14), digs (10) and blocks (7) in the Washington contest ... Marisa DaLee
(11) and Raelene Elam (5) both matched their career-highs in blocks at
Arizona State (10/30) ... DaLee set a career-high with 21 kills vs. UCLA
(10/22) ... In the same match, Elam recorded her career-best in digs with
22 ... Elam posted her career-high hitting percentage mark (.556) vs.
Oregon (9/17) ... DaLee passed the 1,000-attempt plateau for her career at
Nebraska (9/11), qualifying her for Arizona's hitting percentage leaders
list. Her career mark of .368 easily bests former teammate Erin Aldrich's
(1996-97) previous standard of .300 ... DaLee's 11 block assists vs. Santa
Clara (9/3) tied her for third on the Cats' single-match list ... Shannon
Torregrosa became the first Arizona freshman ever to post a double-double
in her collegiate debut at UTEP (9/1) ... She is also only the fifth UA
freshman ever to start her first match under David Rubio (Heidi Bomberger
'93; Allison Napier '97; Burkholder '98; Leslie DuBois '98) ... Burkholder
ranks third among active Pac-10 players in career assists (2,302). DaLee is
eighth in blocks (256) and 10th in kills (761), and Elam ranks eighth in
digs (674) ... Freshman outside hitter Christina Frost is red-shirting the
1999 season.
SINGLE-GAME RECORD: Arizona's .842 hitting percentage in game two of its
match with the Huskies (10/7) was a single-game UA record:
Opponent K-E-A (Game) Pct.
1. vs. Washington (10/7/99) 16-0-19 (2) .842
2. Texas Tech (11/27/93) 15-1-20 (1) .700
3. at Pittsburgh (11/23/84) 10-0-15 (3) .667
Santa Clara (9/5/92) 10-2-12 (5) .667
5. vs. New Orleans (9/9/95) 13-0-20 (2) .650
WASHINGTON SWEEP: Arizona posted several noteworthy numbers in its
three-game sweep of Washington (10/7) in Tucson. Among them were:
*The Cats' .427 hitting percentage for the match was their fifth-best ever
and their second-best in a Pac-10 contest.
*Their .842 hitting percentage (16-0-19) in game two was the Cats'
best-ever in a single game, besting the .700 they hit against Texas Tech
(in Albuquerque) on Nov. 27, 1993, in game one.
*Junior middle blocker Marisa DaLee's .667 hitting percentage for the match
tied for the fifth- (now seventh-) best by an Arizona player.
*The Cats came within one point in game two of its first-ever 15-0 win in a
Pac-10 game. It was their fifth 15-1 victory in league play. Arizona has
had four 15-0 wins out of league.
JUNIOR NATIONALS: Sophomore Dana Burkholder and freshman Lisa Rutledge
missed the last week of preseason practice and the first week (five
matches) of the regular season representing the United States at the Junior
World Games in Saskatoon and Edmonton, Canada, Aug. 28-Sept. 5. Burkholder,
the club's starting setter, had competed for the U.S. team in 1998 as well.
UA joined Stanford as the only schools with two players on the team, which
qualified for the quarterfinals before being eliminated.
DaLEE HONORED: Junior middle blocker Marisa DaLee was named the first 1999
Pac-10 Player of the Week after leading the Cats to a 4-1 mark and a sweep
of No. 18 San Diego the week of Sept. 6.
It was the second such honor for DaLee, who also won it last Nov. 2, and
the 10th ever by a Wildcat.
DaLee hit .345 while averaging 4.18 kills and 1.29 blocks per game through
the Cats' first five matches of the season. The 6-foot-3 Phoenix native put
up those numbers without the assistance of the Cats' regular setter, Dana
Burkholder, who missed the week's action while competing for the U.S.
Junior National Team at the 10th World Championships in Canada.
PRESEASON RANKINGS: Pac-10 coaches voted Arizona third in their annual
preseason poll, the Cats' best-ever finish in the coaches' poll. UA has
finished better than predicted in five of head coach David Rubio's seven
seasons.
HEAD COACH DAVID RUBIO: David Rubio (Cal State Northridge '82) is in his
eighth season as head coach of the Cats and his 13th year overall. He is
139-85 (.621) with Arizona and has led UA to five NCAA Tournament
appearances in the last six years. Rubio has led the Cats to three
consecutive and four total 20-win seasons. He's coached eight All-Pac-10
and eight academic all-conference athletes. He ranks fifth all-time among
Pac-10 coaches in winning percentage. Rubio is 259-150 (.633) overall.
Arizona's win over Oregon State (9/16) was the 250th of his career. The
Cats' match with Stanford (10/15) marked the 400th contest of his head
coaching career. Their opening contest of the season, a victory over UTEP
(9/1) was the 200th of Rubio's Arizona career.
ARIZONA VS. OU: The Cats and Ducks will be meeting for the 31st time, with
Arizona leading the series, 22-8 ... In matches played in Eugene, Arizona
leads, 9-4 ... The Cats are 19-8 vs. OU in Pac-10 play, 9-4 on the road ...
Head coach David Rubio is 13-2 vs. the Ducks, 6-1 on the road.
Earlier This Year vs. Oregon
Date Site W/L Results Scores
9/17 H W 3-0 15-8, 15-4, 15-13
ARIZONA VS. OSU: The Cats and Beavers will be meeting for the 29th time,
with Arizona leading the series, 18-10 ... In matches played in Corvallis,
Arizona leads, 7-6 ... The Cats are 18-9 vs. OSU in Pac-10 play, 7-6 on the
road ... Head coach David Rubio is 11-4 vs. the Beavers, 4-3 on the road.
Earlier This Year vs. Oregon State
Date Site W/L Results Scores
9/16 H W 3-2 6-15, 1-15, 15-11, 15-5, 17-15
