After dropping three slots to No. 21 in this week’s Top 25 poll, the Arizona volleyball team has a chip on its shoulder.

And nothing would help UA head coach Dave Rubio and his team deal with that chip more than a sweep of the opposition when the Wildcats host the Four Points Sheraton Wildcat Classic in McKale Center this weekend.

Arizona (5-1) faces Bradley (3-3) at 10 a.m. today, followed by a match against Montana State (2-4) tonight at 7 before finishing with Rice (3-3) tomorrow night at 7.

The last time Arizona faced any of the three teams was in September 1989, when the Wildcats beat Rice.

Though no foe will be familiar, that isn’t stopping Arizona from thinking about a tournament sweep.

“”If we don’t know that much about the opponent, I think it’s more important to focus on what we do on our side by keeping our errors down to a minimum,”” said Brooke Buringrud, a sophomore outside hitter.

Freshman outside hitter Whitney Dosty said, “”We are just going to make sure that we are doing our job on our side of the net. We just need to work together and play as a team when we are on the court.””

Coming off a solid performance last week – when they went 2-1 in the Louisville Tournament – the Wildcats would be more than pleased to see Dosty produce big numbers and have a game similar to the one she had Saturday against Louisville, when she had a career-high 17 kills.

Although none of Arizona’s opponents is ranked, Buringrud said it’s important not to look past any squad.

“”Just look what happened with Dayton,”” she said, alluding to Arizona’s early loss to an unranked squad in last week’s tournament. “”We are just going to focus on our side and hope for the best.””

But Rubio said he is concerned about some of the problems that his young team still possesses.

“”The hope is that we are growing up as a team and taking baby steps toward the team that we envision us becoming, and part of that is being able to come out and play consistently,”” he said. “”It is obvious right now that it is kind of unpredictable how we are going to come out and play.

“”We haven’t shown any real strong sense of consistency right now, but that will come in time.””