California and Stanford swept the Arizona volleyball team in the final weekend of the regular season, but the Wildcats’ focus is now on the NCAA Tournament, where they will take on Northwestern on Friday.

Northwestern (19-12, 9-11 Big Ten Conference) finished in a tie for seventh in its conference, and lost five of its last seven. No. 20 Arizona has split its last eight games en route to a sixth place finish in the Pacific 10 Conference.

The Wildcats were swept by the northern California schools for the second time this season, but the performance this time around can likely be attributed to looking ahead to the NCAA Tournament.

Arizona was beaten 3-0 against No. 4 Stanford for the second time this season on Wednesday, but it wasn’t without a fight. Senior Tiffany Owens notched her conference-leading 18th double-double of the season with 16 kills and 10 digs.

Courtney Karst was the only other Wildcat to reach double-digit kills against the Cardinal.

The Wildcats hit .284 as a team, but Stanford hit .384 with the offense spread around over six different players with six or more kills.

In Arizona’s loss to No. 2 California on Friday, senior outside hitter Whitney Dosty had a career-high 30 kills while hitting .361, while Paige Weber tallied 47 assists.

Arizona’s section of the bracket is hosted by Northern Iowa, and will take place in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The Wildcats, should they beat Northwestern, will take on the winner of the match between Northern Iowa and Missouri.

This is Arizona’s second trip to the NCAA Tournament in as many seasons, and the 14th in head coach Dave Rubio’s 19 years. Under Rubio, Arizona has posted a 22-13 record in tournament play.