The Arizona volleyball team enjoyed the biggest victory of the season last week when it beat No. 11 USC on Sunday.
The schedule isn’t getting any easier.
The Wildcats (13-6, 3-4 Pacific 10 Conference) will battle two more top 25 teams again this weekend as they take on No. 24 Oregon State (13-7, 2-5) tonight at 7 p.m., followed by No. 7 Oregon (15-4, 4-3) Saturday night at the same time.
The players had Monday practice off after their five-set upset win against the No. 11 Women of Troy (21-25, 25-21, 20-25, 25-16, 16-14), but came back hard in Arizona’s new practice facility.
Only practicing twice during the week the team will face another pair of top-25 teams might not seem like enough preparation time, but UA head coach Dave Rubio didn’t seem too concerned about the matter.
“”I don’t think it will be a problem,”” Rubio said. “”I mean, it is what it is. All the other teams have to deal with the same type of schedules that we have.””
Ideally the Wildcats have three days to get ready in the week before their next match, but the Monday off may be more beneficial than harmful, as the team is amped up on confidence from the win over the Trojans.
“”The win against USC I think gave the girls a little bit of confidence back because we’ve kind of just been struggling in that area,”” said junior libero Alanna Resch. “”And for me, after that game, I feel like we can always win. I mean we’re such a good team we just have to put it together at the same time – and that day we did.””
Resch said the team will come together and work hard to beat the Oregon schools despite their superior rankings.
“”They’re both really good teams – they’re going to be hard,”” Resch said. “”They’re going to challenge us, but we all know what we have to do. We just have to go out there and play our game and just have fun and stick together most of all.””
The Wildcats have dominated the Beavers in recent seasons, but they may be a concern to Arizona this season, Resch said.
But Sunday’s game against the Ducks will likely be the more difficult game.
“”Usually we’ve been on top with Oregon State but they’re pretty good this year,”” the libero said. “”I would say Oregon (will be tougher) because Oregon has a lot of really good players.””
