The Wildcats weren’t very hospitable to their guests at the Arizona Invitational by Lodge on the Desert. The volleyball team beat North Texas University, Pepperdine University, and New Mexico State University — all in three-set sweeps — in a manner that could only be described as dominating.

Arizona opened the tournament against North Texas, who gave the Wildcats a little bit of a scare in the first set before UA rebounded to sweep the Bobcats in straight sets.

“”I think in the first set, we let them get more points off of us than we should have — we had a lot of errors,”” said senior Whitney Dosty. “”After that, I think we really picked it up.””

With the Wildcats holding a 19-5 lead in the third — and ultimately final — set, Arizona head coach Dave Rubio took the chance to get some of his reserves actual game experience.

However, the Arizona bench wasn’t able to keep momentum, and saw its time in the spotlight end after North Texas closed the gap to an 8-point lead.

“”If I can, I want to get them some playing time,”” said Rubio. “”Momentum is pretty fickle — boy, it can switch on you. When the game is so unforgiving, then you just aren’t able to play the kids as much as you would want.””

After downing North Texas, the Wildcats faced their stiffest competition of the weekend in the Pepperdine Waves.

The first game couldn’t be decided in only 25 points — Arizona ultimately won the set 27-25 en route to its second three-set sweep of the tournament, due in large part to the Wildcats’ attention to blocking.

“”In the beginning, our blocking was pretty shaky, so we decided to just take a deep breath and start over,”” said junior middle blocker Courtney Karst. “”We needed to stop No. 13 (Kim Hill) over on the other side, so we just needed to get our hands over fast and stop them.””

Cursty Jackson, a junior in her first year at Arizona after transferring from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, reiterated the importance of blocking in the victory over Pepperdine.

“”As blockers, we just started paying attention to detail,”” Jackson said. “”We started calling where the hitters were, where the hitters were going — so that really helped.””

The Wildcats were visibly more emotional during the match — presumably because of the stiffer competition.

“”I think winning just feels good. Blocking, getting a stuff-block, I think that’s probably the best feeling you can get playing volleyball,”” Jackson continued. “”I know everybody was hyped up today. I think everyone did awesome.””

After downing Pepperdine, the Wildcats passed their last test before Pacific 10 Conference play, and they did it with flying colors. Arizona swept New Mexico State in dominating fashion, with only one set decided by less than five points.

“”I don’t think we’re where we need to be right now … we still have some things to work on,”” Rubio said. “”We’ve had two real good weeks of practice, so we’re starting to see some of those results, but we’re still not quite where we need to be. In general, (the weekend) was good.””

Arizona will open Pac-10 play this weekend, which includes a visit by the nation’s No. 1 team — Stanford University.