Arizona volleyball heading north for Cal game

By EMI KOMIYA Published October 26, 2012 at 3:17am Updated October 26, 2012 at 3:17am

The Arizona volleyball team is making a mid-week trip up to Berkely, Calif., to take on Cal at 6. p.m. in the Haas Pavillion. The match will be aired on the Pac-12 Networks.

Arizona goes into the weekend with a 12-9 record overall.

The Wildcats have had one win and one loss in the past week, with the loss to No. 2 Stanford on Wednesday. The win came in a four set match against Oregon State in which head coach Dave Rubio said he was not happy with his team’s performance despite the win.

Though losing is never a positive, Rubio said he was much happier with the team’s drive against the Cardinal than with what he saw against the Beavers last weekend.

“We don’t have a lot of options, running the 6-2 so you don’t have a lot of room, the people that are in there have to kind of figure out how to get the job done from an execution standpoint,” Rubio said.

Rubio has called this season to a long and challenging learning experience where the playing field may not always be easy. He said the team knows what his expectations are and knows what it will take for the players to compete at their best.

Cal is not ranked and is tied with for sixth with Arizona in Pac-12 rankings. Arizona’s ability to improve has faltered at times because of the younger players’ need for time to adjust.

“It’s hard to be on all the time, all at the same time,” sophomore middle blocker Rachel Rhoades said.

Junior libero Candace Nicholson said that the team is more prepared and mature now that second round of conference play.

Both teams have a 4-6-conference record. Arizona’s all-time record against the Bears is 34-21 with the Wildcats losing 1-3 against Cal at home earlier this season.