TUCSON, Ariz. -- Arizona volleyball hit a season-best .412 in a straight-set victory over California on Friday night in McKale Center (25-16, 25-15, 25-13) to start the second half of Pac-12 play with a victory.
"It was a good game," said Arizona head coach
Dave Rubio. "You never know when you're going to win in this conference. It was certainly nice to come out on top. I still feel that the second half of the season is when we will play our best volleyball. Hopefully tonight is an indication of that. The unfortunate part is we play Stanford on Sunday, which will give us a good barometer of where we are at."
Arizona's .412 hitting percentage was its best ever in Pac-12 match since the conference expanded to 12 teams in 2011. Meanwhile, UA limited Cal to an .025 hitting percentage, the lowest for a league opponent since Nov. 17, 2013 (Colorado - .018).
Three freshmen led the way for the Wildcats' offense --
Katie Smoot (8 kills, .583 hit %),
Paige Whipple (7 kills, .500 hit %) and
Candice Denny (7 kills, .417 hit %) -- while a sophomore, setter
Julia Patterson, ran it to perfection. Patterson, who had 28 assists, added a career-high-tying five kills on .833 hitting.
"I really think we are just scratching the surface for us," said Rubio. "With the number of young players and I put
Devyn Cross in that, who is one of the best athletes that we have on our team. I really feel that with time, this will be an elite level team. Talk to me at this time next year, and see if my prediction is true."
Arizona outblocked Cal 9-1 in the match. Denny set a career-high with five blocks while Smoot provided four in her first career start.
The Wildcats dominated in every facet of the game on Friday night, holding the Bears under 17 points in all three sets. The domination comes on the heels of a five-set loss to the Bears in Berkeley in the first match of October. Now, the Wildcats will bring a 9-11, 3-8 Pac-12 record into the final game of October -- a rematch with second-ranked and defending national champion Stanford. The Cats and the Cardinal meet up on Sunday at 1 p.m. MST. Cal, which faces ASU on Sunday, dropped to 12-10, 3-8 Pac-12 with the loss.
UA now owns sweeps over Arizona State, USC and Cal in conference play; all three Pac-12 victories have come in straight sets. Arizona is now 9-0 when leading its opponent in hitting percentage -- it is 0-11 when trailing.
Arizona outhit Cal .381 to -.100 in the first set to dominate the opener, 25-16. UA had four blocks in the set, including two apiece from
Katie Smoot and
Candice Denny.
The Cats had three more blocks in the second set and earned another decisive victory, winning 25-15 to go up 2-0 in the match.
UA ran away with the third set, using a 13-3 run midway through the set to take command and never look back.
Up Next: Arizona welcomes Stanford to McKale on Sunday at 1 p.m. MST. The match will be televised by the Pac-12 Networks. Tickets can be purchased
HERE.
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To keep up with Arizona volleyball, be sure to visit ArizonaWildcats.com and follow the team on its Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts.
