ARIZONA 3, OREGON STATE 0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-18)
Recap | Box Score

ARIZONA (10-5, 2-1 Pac-12) vs. #21 OREGON (10-2, 3-0 Pac-12)
Saturday, October 1 | 6 p.m. MST
Live Stream | Live Stats | Live Updates | Arizona Notes | Oregon Notes
 

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CATS AT A GLANCE

• Arizona is set to close the book on what has been a successful September; Arizona is 9-2, dropping just nine total sets in the month so far.
• The Wildcats split the first two matches of league play, taking care of ASU at home in four sets before nearly coming back to upset No. 16 Colorado in Boulder before falling in five sets.
• The Wildcats have enjoyed success over the Oregon schools in Tucson in Dave Rubio's time as head coach. Arizona is 20-4 vs. Oregon in McKale Center and 22-1 vs. Oregon State. The Beavers' lone victory occurred in 1993. Oregon came into Tucson as a ranked team in each of the last three seasons and lost each time; the Ducks are ranked 21st this week.
• All five of Arizona's losses this season have come to teams currently ranked or receiving votes in the AVCA Top 25. Over the last three years, Arizona is 46-7 (.868) vs. unranked competition and 6-22 (.214) vs. ranked teams.
• Arizona's opponents (future and past matches) have a combined record of 193-96 (.668), making the Wildcats' schedule the 10th hardest in the country.
• Earlier this season, Penina Snuka became the fifth player in school history to surpass the 4,000 career assist plateau, and has since moved into third in Wildcat history with 4,252. Now, Snuka will turn her sites on the 5,000-assist club, where on only one other Wildcat resides: Dana Burkholder (5,424 career assists).
• Kendra Dahlke is enjoying a breakout campaign in her sophomore year. After averaging 1.57 kills/set as a freshman with four double-digit kill matches, Dahlke leads the Wildcats with 4.08 kills/set and has had 10-or-more kills in 12 of Arizona's 14 matches. Dahkle is third in the Pac-12 in kills.
• 2016 marks the 25th season as the head coach of the Wildcats for Dave Rubio, the conference's active leader victories as a Pac-10/12 coach (465). In 2016, the team will celebrate his quarter century of excellence, which includes a 2000 Pac-10 championship and a trip to the 2001 Final Four.
• After finishing second-to-last in the Pac-12 in aces/set a year ago (0.85/set), the Wildcats lead the conference in aces five weeks into 2016 (1.58/set). Penina Snuka, who had never averaged more than 0.2 aces/set in her career, is second in the league, averaging 0.44 aces/set.
• Penina Snuka is third in Arizona history with 4,252 career assists and third with 1,352 career digs. Snuka has led the Pac-12 in double-doubles in each of her previous three seasons at Arizona. She has eight this year, giving her 74 for her career.

 
THIS WEEK: After splitting the first two matches of conference play, Arizona (9-5. 1-1 Pac-12) is back in the friendly confines of McKale Center for two matches before returning to the road for two weeks. The Wildcats welcome Oregon State (Friday) and No. 21 Oregon (Saturday) this week, two teams UA has had success over the years against. Under Coach Rubio, Arizona is 20-4 at home against Oregon and 22-2 at home vs. Oregon State. The Wildcats will look to remain perfect at home this year, taking a 4-0 record at McKale into this weekend's matchups. Friday's match will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks.
 
OPPONENTS
Oregon State: The Beavers (7-6, 0-2 Pac-12) are off to an 0-2 start in Pac-12 play, but were tasked with facing two top-25 teams last week, losing at Oregon and vs. Stanford ... The Beavers have two of the top four kill-leaders in the Pac-12 (2. Mary-Kate Marshall - 4.40/set; 4. Lanesha Reagan - 3.83/set) ... OSU ranks in the bottom third in the Pac-12 in every statistical category except digs (4th - 15.20/set).
 
Oregon: The 21st-ranked Ducks (9-2, 2-0 Pac-12) have won nine straight matches after an 0-2 start, dropping just one total set in the process ... This will be just Oregon's third road match; Oregon has spent four of the first five weeks at home ... The Ducks lead the Pac-12 in hitting by over 40 points (.321) ... Oregon is also first in the conference in assists (13.86) and kills (15.06) ... Amanda Benson leads the Pac-12 in digs, averaging 5.22 per set.
 
RANKINGS: Arizona is not ranked in this week's AVCA Top 25.
 
SETTING THE TONE: All-conference setter Penina Snuka has excelled in her three-plus seasons as the Wildcats' setter. Snuka has been an honorable mention All-American each of the last two seasons. Snuka has led the Pac-12 in double-doubles in each of her three seasons at Arizona (2013 - 19, 2014 - 25, 2015 - 22) and has eight in 2016, second in the conference. Snuka is currently third in Arizona history with 4,252 assists and is Arizona's top digging setter (third overall) with 1,352 digs.
 
CAN YOU DIG IT? After leading the conference in digs each of the last three years, Arizona is seventh this year, averaging 14.54 digs/set. Laura Larson is ninth in the league, averaging 3.54 digs/set. The senior has double-digit digs in 27 of Arizona's last 29 matches.
 
WHAT SOPHOMORE SLUMP? After averaging 1.57 kills/set as a part-time player in 2015, Kendra Dahlke has burst onto the scene in a big way as a sophomore. Through 14 matches, Dahlke leads Arizona with 4.08 kills/set and has had double-digit kills in 12 of Arizona's 14 matches. In 2015, she had four total double-digit kill efforts. Dahlke is third in the Pac-12 in both kills/set (4.08) and points/set (4.60).
 
PUTTING THE TEAM ON HER BACK: In the 39 matches that Kalei Mau has played in since the start of 2015, she has led the team (or tied for the team lead) in kills in 31 of those matches. Mau's nine 20-plus kill matches in that span rank 10th in a career in Arizona history.
 
ACE IN THE HOLE: Arizona leads the Pac-12 with 1.58 aces per set after finishing in the bottom third of the conference each of the last three years. The Wildcat's 79 aces are already more than 3/4ths of the way to their 2015 total of 104. Three Wildcats have double digit aces: Penina Snuka (22), Makenna Martin (13) and Laura Larson (12).
 
PERFECT 10: Arizona's 2016 recruiting class was ranked as the 10th best class in the country by PrepVolleyball.com. The Cats have seven freshmen, including two top-100 recruits (#60 Shardonee Hayes & #67 Julia Patterson).
 
A CLASS OF THEIR OWN: Arizona's senior class has won 73 matches, with the opportunity to become the winningest class in over a decade. Should the 2016 team win 18 games, it will make the senior class the winningest in Arizona history since the 2003 class won 90. These seniors are trying to become Arizona's first to make four NCAA Tournament appearances since the 2005 class capped off Arizona's run of 10 straight NCAA Tournaments.
 
FOLLOW THE CATS: Get a behind-the-scenes look at the Arizona volleyball team on its various social media accounts to keep up with the Cats all season long.
 
Twitter: @ArizonaVBall
Instagram: @ArizonaVBall
YouTube: Arizona Volleyball
 
UP NEXT: The Wildcats kick off two straight weeks on the road with a trip to the City of Angels. Arizona faces USC (Oct. 7) and UCLA (Oct. 9) next week.