Fresh off the first road victory against a Pacific 10 Conference school in more than two years, Arizona volleyball hits the road again this weekend to take on the Bay Area schools.
“”Getting that monkey off our back of not being able to win on the road will change our attitude,”” junior setter Paige Weber said. “”It’s tough play on the road. Even if you win on the road it doesn’t make it any easier.””
The Wildcats (15-3, 4-3 Pac-10) take on the No. 15 California Golden Bears before heading across the bay to take on the No. 6 Stanford Cardinal. This weekend’s road schedule is slightly different than what what the Wildcats are accustomed to. Instead of playing back-to-back matches on Friday and Saturday, they will play at Cal on Friday and at Stanford on Sunday.
“”It’s definitely a tough trip,”” Weber said. “”It might be a little easier this time because we don’t play back-to-back. We get a day to rest and gather our thoughts.””
Arizona is looking to continue a three-game conference win streak that started against the Oregon schools on Oct. 9. It’s always difficult to win on the road in the Pac-10, and the Wildcats will have their hands full. Stanford (12-5, 5-2 Pac-10) has not lost at home this season, and Cal (10-7,3-4 Pac-10) has only dropped one match on their home court, a loss to Washington on Oct. 9.
“”We want to go out there and play our hardest and get a win, but I think we need to take it one step at a time,”” junior outside hitter Whitney Dosty said. “”Play each match at a time, and let our abilities and what we know how to do take over.””
Cal split the weekend when they made the trip up to the Oregon schools, losing at Oregon before rebounding at Oregon State. The Golden Bears have a subpar record so far this season, but are led by Hana Cutura who currently has 1,684 kills in her career. Because the Pac-10 is a conference of scoring, it will be Arizona’s defense that will be the key this weekend.
“”I feel like we should just keep doing what we’re doing because it’s obviously working. We just need to stop the other team,”” sophomore Courtney Karst said. “”We need to focus on our serve and serve-receive to be successful.””
Arizona sits one spot behind Stanford at third place in conference rankings. The Cardinal has a top defense led by Gabi Ailes, who has 318 digs so far this season, good for the top spot in the conference.
While playing on the road isn’t anything different for the Wildcats, they are running out of time this season to make the final push to appear at the NCAA tournament in December.
“”It’s not really that different than any other weekend we have on the road in terms of playing two good teams,”” Weber said. “”It happens every weekend for us. It’s just going to be us going out there an handling our own business.””
