PRO: Save your knees, please

Ms. Whitney Dosty:

I can only imagine the mental struggle that you are going through. You’ve sat out the first 12 matches of the Arizona volleyball season, and you’re in Tucson today while your teammates are in L.A., trying their best to improve their 10-2 record against No. 5 UCLA and No. 4 USC.

You’re out of your knee brace(s) now, and are allowed to wear those knee-high socks and kneepads that you were so familiar with last season when you were a member of the Pac-10 All-Freshman team, averaged 3.39 kills per game and posted a career-high 29 kills against No. 24 Oregon – a season-high among all conference players. But you’re limited in your role.

You’re still coming back from an MCL tear in your right knee and tendonitis in your left, and you’ll be jumping soon enough. But by then, it’ll be too late.

You’ve already burned half the season. Come back now and you will have wasted your sophomore year.

You seem to like the college life, and you’re in the town where you went to high school. Chances are you have a lot of friends here at Arizona – from high school, the volleyball team, and with your bubbly personality, you’ve made lots more. So what will another year in college hurt if you’ve got good company?

Take the year, wear that metaphorical redshirt proudly. Give your knees a chance to rest. They’ve been through a lot, from your days of being a ballerina to the day that you became the Arizona state high jump champion in high school – jumping over the 5-foot-9 mark and into in the national top 10. And now your job is to spring your 6-foot-3 frame up to spike an 8-ounce ball down for a kill. Those knees are precious. Save them for next year.

And rest easy knowing that your fellow Wildcats will hold the fort down until you return.

-Lance Madden
assistant sports editor

CON: Dosty should play

Although Whitney Dosty was just a freshman outside hitter for the Arizona volleyball team last year, her impact was immeasurable.

She has a somewhat quiet and business-like demeanor when on the court, but when she swings back and hits the ball, her power is truly something to see.

Head coach Dave Rubio said last season that he wouldn’t be surprised if Dosty becomes the same kind of force former Wildcat Kim Glass was, and if she is anywhere near Glass’s caliber, the last thing the Wildcats need is to make her a water girl on scholarship.

The Arizona volleyball team has been a squad seemingly injury-plagued over the last few years, but it is still on the right track
this season.

Dosty returned to practice Tuesday, and though she isn’t 100 percent just yet, it’s still early – as the Pac-10 schedule doesn’t start until today. With Brooke Buringrud still trying to get back to full health after shoulder surgery during the offseason, the Wildcats are running thin at outside hitter.

With the Wildcats looking to make the postseason after missing it last year for the first time in 11 years, they will need as much power as they can get when they face the Pac-10 schedule.

Arizona has done well without Dosty thus far, as the squad sits at 10-2 heading into conference play, but the level of competition gets much steeper starting tonight at UCLA.

The Pac-10 is considered the best volleyball conference in the country, and the power that lies within is something truly amazing.

If the Wildcats want to continue to win and possibly make the postseason, they will need Dosty’s services.

The best route for Arizona would be to sit Dosty down for a few more weeks, allow her to become healthy enough to jump and run without problems, and ease her back into action.

The Wildcats look tough this year, but if they plan on making some noise in the postseason, they will need to board the “”Dosty Train”” back into the tournament.

-Ari Wasserman
sports writer