Typically, rivalry games in the Pacific 10 Conference are a team’s only game of the week. That being said, Arizona’s second meeting with ASU couldn’t come at a better time, with several Wildcats trying to recover from injuries.

“”I think everybody’s excited to only have to play on Friday,”” said senior setter Paige Weber. “”We need it. We only have 12 people, and of those 12, maybe one person who’s not injured. I definitely think that we’re in need of having a lighter week.””

The good news for Arizona is that even though it has most of the roster trying to recover from some kind of ailment, the only player who could be questionable for Friday’s match is freshman middle blocker Maddie Lozano.

Lozano suffered a minor concussion Tuesday in practice, but head coach Dave Rubio thinks that she might be ready to go on Friday.

“”Right now, everyone’s kind of nicked up, tired and sore,”” Rubio said. “”But no excuses.””

Not having as much pressure to prepare for two different teams over the weekend has given the Wildcats some more time to get treatments for those nicks.

“”We’re taking more time to get treatments and get into the training room,”” senior Whitney Dosty said. “”I think just having the one game will allow us to have some more recovery.””

This season has also been a learning experience for some of the younger players when it comes to knowing how to take care of themselves so they can continue to perform at a high level.

“”It’s really important that we all take care of our bodies,”” said freshman libero Candace Nicholson. “”We have to keep doing our stuff in the training room before practice.””

The Wildcats’ only significant injury this year was a stress fracture suffered by Dosty, a starting outside hitter. Dosty has been limited the past few weeks, but she’s inching close to 100 percent.

“”It’s doing better, this week’s probably the best it’s felt since (the injury) happened,”” Dosty said. “”Yesterday in practice I was able to do a lot more, I’m probably around 80 or 85 percent right now.””

However, Dosty isn’t the only Arizona player who has missed practice time due to injury. Nicholson has been battling a wrist injury for about five weeks now, but she’s toughing it out until the end of the season.

“”It’s been better. There’s pain sometimes, but I’m going to make it through the whole year,”” Nicholson said. “”I have like a TFCC tear, so I’m going to have to get surgery after the season for it.””

A TFCC tear is an injury to the cartilage in the outer part of the wrist. It’s the same area of the wrist as a sprain, except more severe.

Less preparation time isn’t the only advantage of only playing one match a week. After the match against ASU on Friday, the Wildcats will have Saturday and Sunday completely off.

“”I told the players that this is our opportunity to kind of heal and get some rest on Saturday and Sunday,”” said Rubio. “”It’s not often that you have a full weekend off, so hopefully they’ll take advantage of that.””

Rubio isn’t the only one who is looking forward to the weekend off.

“”I think everybody’s looking forward to it,”” Weber said.

With a win over ASU, it will be even better.