After a tough stretch of games that included four games in seven days, Arizona volleyball returns to the friendly confines of McKale Center to host the Rocky Mountain schools over Halloween weekend.
The No. 15 Wildcats (17-5, 6-4 Pac-12 Conference) host Colorado today at 6 p.m. in a match that will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks. The UA will then host Utah on Saturday at 6 p.m., and that match will be shown on pac-12.com.
Arizona is coming off a 1-1 road trip at the Oregon schools, where it lost 3-0 to then-No. 11 Oregon before beating Oregon State 3-1.
The game against the Beavers saw the UA record a Pac-12 season-high 109 digs, good enough for sixth-best in school history.
The Wildcats are 9-2 at home, having only lost to then-No. 1 Stanford and then-No. 3 Washington.
Colorado (13-9, 5-5) averages 13.64 kills per set and has a .259 hitting percentage. While Arizona is first in the Pac-12 in digs, with 16.58, the Buffaloes are last with 12.68.
However, Colorado has 1.37 aces per set, while the UA has 0.93.
Leading the way for the Buffaloes is senior outside hitter Taylor Simpson, who averages 4.64 kills per set and has a .316 hitting percentage. Simpson is third in the Pac-12 in kills.
Arizona leads the all-time series 6-2, but the Buffaloes beat the Wildcats 3-0 in Boulder, Colo., on Oct. 5, as the UA hit a season-worst .150.
This season, Colorado presents the first time when the Wildcats have the chance to get revenge on one of the five teams that defeated them.
The Buffaloes split with the Washington schools last week on the road, losing 3-0 to Washington but sweeping WSU.Utah (12-9, 2-8) comes to town nursing a three-match losing streak, but one of those losses was courtesy of Washington, and another was at the hands of the Stanford Cardinal.
The Huskies and Cougars both swept Utah last weekend — 22-25, 13-25, 25-27 and 20-25, 21-25, 16-25 — respectively.
Arizona leads the all-time series with the Utes 20-5 and has won six of the seven matches since Utah joined the conference in 2011. The Wildcats have also won eight of the last nine.
On Oct. 3 in Salt Lake City, the Wildcats swept the Utes (25-21, 25-23, 25-23). Arizona held Utah to a .181 hitting percentage.
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