When middle blocker Madeline Lozano committed to play volleyball for Arizona and its head coach Dave Rubio straight out of Oakmont High School in Roseville, Calif., the plan was to take it slow and let the freshman Lozano adapt to the college game.

Well, things changed in a hurry when Tarryn Luafalemana, also a freshman middle blocker from California, went down with a foot injury prior to the Red-Blue scrimmage last weekend.

“”(Lozano), who we were hoping to redshirt, is going to have to start for us in the middle. With (Luafalemana) out with an injury right now, we’re going to have rely on her,”” saidRubio before Tuesday’s practice. “”Fortunately, she’s really done well. She’s a fast learner and she works extremely hard, so hopefully we won’t lose too much at that position.””

Lozano didn’t get much time in practice before the Red-Blue scrimmage, but now she’s getting a crash course in playing volleyball at one of the sport’s highest levels.

“”Our starting middle blocker was down and we’re waiting to get an MRI on her foot, so we had to put in a new player today who hadn’t really been playing at all,”” said Rubio following the Red-Blue scrimmage, referring to Lozano’s lack of playing time. “”But I thought she did a really good job for us.””

Arizona volleyball fans will find out how well Lozano has picked up the collegiate game this weekend when the Wildcats travel to South Bend, Ind., to play in the Shamrock Invitational, hosted by Notre Dame.