The Arizona Wildcats volleyball team hadn’t beat a ranked team all season prior to last weekend. Now, you can make it three in a row against ranked opponents as Arizona took down No. 12 Stanford in four sets in Palo Alto, California on Friday night.

The Wildcats beat the Cardinal for the first time since 2005, and are coming off the program’s first sweep of USC and UCLA squads, both ranked. Arizona is currently on a big-time roll as it heads to Berkeley, California, to face Cal on Sunday.

Arizona had a season high 73 kills and was led by Penina Snuka’s 59 assists—one shy of her career-high, according to Arizona Athletics.

Snuka spoke with Pac-12 Networks about her performance after the game.

Kendra Dahlke led the team with 22 kills while registering three blocks and a service ace, as the Wildcats now move to 13-6 on the season. More importantly, Arizona is now 5-2 in the Pac-12 Conference and moves into a tie for first place with Washington and Washington State.

Arizona started off strong Friday night, winning the first set with a final score of 25-21. From there, the match grew more intense as the second set went the Wildcats’ way in a grueling 28-26 battle. 

Stanford answered back by winning the third set, 25-27, but the Wildcats held form and persevered to win the fourth set the same way they won the first, by a score of 25-21.

Arizona plays at noon on Sunday against Cal before returning home for a pivotal showdown with the Washington schools in McKale Center next weekend.

Follow Saul Bookman on Twitter.

Video courtesy of Pac-12 Networks.