PALO ALTO, Calif. - Five days after ending a long drought in Los Angeles, the Wildcats put to rest another, beating Stanford for the first time since 2005, ending a 19-match winning streak in the series for the Cardinal. Now, after beating both No. 22 USC and No. 18 UCLA on the road for the first time in school history last weekend, the Wildcats are in the midst of their best three-game stretch since 2005.
 
Arizona downed the Cardinal in four sets on Friday night, using a combination of stellar defense and balanced offense to defeat the 12th-ranked Cardinal (25-21, 28-26, 25-27, 25-21).
 
"I'm really proud of our kids," said head coach Dave Rubio. "I don't think it was our best match of the year but we found a way to grind it out and found a way to win."
 
Penina Snuka was excellent on Friday, coming one assist shy of career-high, but putting together a monster double-double with 59 assists and 19 digs. Snuka led the offense beautifully as the Cats posted 73 kills on .283 hitting. Snuka's 59 assists were the second most in the Pac-12 this year, easily the most in a four-set match. UA's 73 kills were a season high and the second most by any Pac-12 team in a four-set match.
 
Snuka spread the ball around. Five Wildcats had eight kills or more. 
 
Kendra Dahlke tied her career-high with 22 kills, adding 12 digs, three blocks and an ace. 
 
Kalei Mau was close behind, registering 17 kills, 14 digs, two blocks and an ace. Snuka's double-double was her 11th of the season, Dahlke's seventh and Mau's fourth.
 
Katarina Pilepic was Arizona's most efficient offensive weapon. The senior posted 15 kills on a team-best .412 hitting. Pilepic helped get the Wildcats rolling with seven kills in the first set.
 
"Kendra, Katarina and Kalei were unbelievable," said Rubio. "They had to work hard to score."
 
Arizona posted 82 digs in the match to go along with eight blocks. Arizona had dug more than 70 balls just once all year in the first 17 matches. In its last two matches Arizona has accumulated 98 digs (at UCLA) and 82 digs (at Stanford).
 
"Penina and Laura (Larson) refuse to let us lose," said Rubio. "Penina's defense was amazing. Maybe the best I've ever seen – she was at a whole different level. We'll keep running with it and keep trying to get better. We have to keep getting better. There's a lot of room for improvement."
 
Snuka (13 assists, 9 digs) and Pilepic (7 kills, .778 hitting) led Arizona to a first-set victory, 25-21. Arizona notched 26 digs in the set as the Cats elongated points and scratched out a win in the opening set.
 
Stanford's offense responded early in the second set. The Cardinal came out clicking on all cylinders, taking a five-point lead early on, but Arizona served its way back into the set. Kalei Mau and Reilly Killeen had key aces as the Cats chipped away to finally tie the second set at 21. The teams traded points, with Stanford getting to set point at 24-23, 25-24 and 26-25. The Cats erased all three set points and then ended the set on back-to-back blocks to grab a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
In the third, the Cardinal pulled ahead early. UA used a late 4-0 run to tie the set before the teams traded points in another marathon set. Stanford, though, came through this time, winning 27-25 to force a fourth.
 
The Cats finished off the match in convincing fashion, winning the fourth 25-21 to end it.
 
UP NEXT: Arizona will look to complete the two-week sweep of the state of California as the Cats meet the Golden Bears on Sunday at noon MST on the Pac-12 Networks.
 
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