The Arizona volleyball team fought back from a lackadaisical
start and capitalized on Oregon State miscues in a sweep last night in McKale Center.

The Wildcats (11-4, 1-2 Pacific 10 Conference) won by scores of 31-29, 30-26 and 30-25.

Arizona trailed throughout the first game until outside hitter Brooke Buringrud surprised OSU (8-7, 1-2) by gently tipping the ball over the net to tie the game at 18.

After that, there was no looking back, as Arizona started to find
its rhythm.

Opposite hitter Randy Goodenough paced the Wildcats with nine kills and two aces in the first game.

“”There’s always going to be games where everybody isn’t on the same page,”” she said. “”Tonight was definitely one of those nights, but we found away to push through it.””

Outside hitter Tiffany Owens chipped in with five kills and four
digs in the first game. She agreed the team was a little sluggish.

“”We were definitely lacking in coming together as a team,”” Owens said. “”There wasn’t a lot of talking out there
or energy.””

UA head coach David Rubio attributed the team’s slow start to fatigue. Last week’s games against then-No. 5 UCLA and then-No. 4 USC took a huge toll on the team’s energy and a tough week of practice also contributed to early mistakes, he said.

Arizona opened the second game much cleaner than the first, and the mistakes shifted to the other side of the net, as OSU committed seven errors to the Wildcats’ five.

Arizona battled back and forth with the Beavers until middle blocker Dominique Lamb stuffed the ball down themiddle to tie the game at 15, in the process stealing the momentum from the Beavers.

The Beavers were visibly deflated after the play and never seemed to fully recover.

The third game required the Wildcats to do even less offensively due to 11 OSU errors. Arizona needed 12 kills, five from Goodenough, in the third game to seal the deal.

Fittingly, the game ended on a bad serve by OSU.

“”We weren’t very sharp today, that’s for sure,”” Rubio said. “”There was no passion out there. (Both teams) were just going
through the paces.

“”Even though we won 3-0, it never felt like we were in control.””
Both players and coaches anticipate tonight’s game in McKale against No. 21 Oregon will be much tougher.

“”We didn’t try to overpower (OSU), but we’ll have to be way more aggressive if we want to win tomorrow,”” Goodenough said.

The Ducks won a four-game match against ASU last night.
Rubio had high praise for the Ducks, and said his team needs to be focused.

“”We’ve looked at a lot of film, and Oregon is a terrific team,”” he said. “”They’re the same caliber as USC and UCLA, in my opinion. We’re definitely going to need our ‘A’ game (tonight).””