The 2016 senior class has won 64 games, the most over a three-year span in more than a decade, been to three NCAA Tournaments and has rewritten the school's record books. Now the question is has this group saved its best for last?

If you ask head coach Dave Rubio, the answer is yes.

Penina Snuka has started all but one match in her career and has developed from a young, raw talent into a polished, experienced setter that will be the centerpiece of everything the Wildcats do in 2016. Fellow four-year senior Laura Larson is dependable as they come at the libero position and Kalei Mau, who has spent three years with the Wildcats, is one of the most feared offensive weapons in the country. The trio has been joined in the last two years by transfers McKenna Painton and Katarina Pilepic, both of whom figure to be key contributors in 2016.

Snuka enters her senior year with 3,779 career assists and 1,209 career digs, fifth and fourth in Arizona history, respectively.  

"Having Penina as a four-year starter certainly gives you a lot of security," said Arizona head coach Dave Rubio, who enters his 25th season at Arizona.

Arizona has led the Pac-12 in digs in each of Laura Larson's three seasons as a Wildcat. The libero led the Wildcats in 2015, averaging 3.39 digs/set; her 420 total digs were fifth most in a season in school history.

"Laura is just such a good, solid player," said Rubio. "She's focused, hard-nosed and well-skilled. She really has an exceptional brain."

Mau enjoyed a 3.06 kill/set increase from her sophomore to junior year, when her 4.33 kills/set ranked third in the Pac-12. Now, Coach Rubio sees room for more improvement for Mau after she gained experience with Arizona sand volleyball team.

"Kalei having played sand last year has made a world of difference in her game. How she sees the game and her skills for the game have been better than I anticipated," said Rubio of Mau. "Now if we can keep her healthy, she'll certainly give us some really good minutes."

Now, add to the talented, experienced senior core an influx of youth and athleticism.

PrepVolleyball.com rated Arizona's incoming recruiting class as the 10th best haul in the country this year.

"We haven't had a class like this in a long time," said Rubio on signing day last November. "It's been since maybe 2005 when we brought in Kim Glass, Bre Ladd and Jennifer Abernathy, that we've had this kind of talent.

"Athletically, this puts us in a whole different category."

Rubio hopes that his veteran leaders will harmonize with the young and talented underclassmen to create something special in 2016.

"I like our freshman class," said Rubio. "They're athletic. They're willing to learn. They're coachable. I like the returning group as well. We've got a good group of seniors. We've got a lot of players who have worked hard in the summer and have been committed to become better. Our seniors are really good role models and leaders for the rest of the team."

The team will be tested early as UA faces a very difficult nonconference slate in 2016 to go along with the grueling Pac-12 schedule. Arizona will face three of the preseason top 16 teams in the country in the nonconference slate, with no time to get its feet underneath it; No. 4 Wisconsin and No. 6 Hawaii await the Wildcats in the season-opening Wahine Invitational in Honolulu, Hawaii to start the season.

"We open up with No. 4 Wisconsin and No. 6 Hawaii and Kansas State, who returns every starter from last year, so they should be a team that's conceivably ranked in the top 25 as well," said Rubio. "Texas A&M may be the best team that we play. They won the SEC last year. And playing on the road against Butler and Loyola Chicago, those are really good programs. So it'll be a good nonconference for us. It'll be challenging."

Rubio strayed from his usual nonconference scheduling recipe that includes the formula to get 10 wins while maintaining a high RPI this year.

"I knew that this team was going to have a chance to be competitive," said Rubio. "In the past I've always focused on getting at least 10 wins out of conference because you never know how many wins you'll get in conference. This year, Penina's senior year, I felt we had a good group of newcomers coming in and a good group of returning players so I figured we'd just go for it. We're not going to worry about our RPI; we're going to try to put ourselves in a position to be one of the top seeds going into the tournament. We've got lofty goals in regards to postseason. So if you're going to do that, your nonconference has to reflect that as well.

I'd say that walking out of there with 10 wins would be tough, but I'm so focused on how we start, but I'm focused on trying to get these kids to be better throughout the year. Hopefully we'll rise to the occasion at the beginning of the season."

SETTERS

All-Pac-12 setter Penina Snuka highlights the position for the Wildcats. A four-year starter at setter, Snuka will be the leader of the team in 2016.

"When your best player is your best leader, you're going to have a pretty good team," said Rubio. "Having someone with the experience and as talented as Penina leading your team gives you as much comfort and security that you can ask for."

Snuka led the Pac-12 in total assists with 1,349 in 2015, giving her 3,779 in her illustrious career, already fifth most in Arizona history. But in addition to her offensive prowess, Snuka is an elite defender, terrific in both the front and back rows. Snuka has led the Pac-12 in double-doubles each of her three seasons at Arizona; she had 22 in 2015, giving her 65 for her career. Snuka is fourth in Arizona history with 1,209 career digs.

Due to an injury to incoming freshman Raphael Temple, fellow freshman Julia Patterson will be UA's backup setter heading into 2016.

"Julia is certainly pushing Penina," said Rubio. "Julia is everything and more than what I thought she was going to be. She's got the Laura Larson brain. She's really focused and every day she shows up and wants to get better and improve. She's a smart kid and really talented. Penina is a really good role model for Julia."

OUTSIDE HITTERS

The Wildcats figure to be as athletic on the pins as they have been in some time, led by all-Pac-12 bomber Kalei Mau, who finished third in the Pac-12, averaging 4.33 kills/set in 2015. Sophomores Tyler Spriggs and Kendra Dahlke return after impressive debuts in 2015.

"Kalei coming back and being as good as she's been is great," said Rubio. "Kendra has really been outstanding. Leading into fall camp, we knew she really committed to getting better this summer. She's really been putting the work in to get better and it's showing. Tyler is terrific. She's a terrific athlete and she's been getting better in the back row. We're going to continue to develop her into a six-rotation player."

The returners will be joined by a pair of newcomers who will likely have an impact in year 1 with the program. Senior Katarina Pilepic transferred to Arizona after a successful three-year career at San Francisco, where she led the team with 3.77 kills/set in 2015.

"Katarina unfortunately has been hurt, but we know that she's going to be in the mix," said Rubio. "She gives us some real physicality on the pins."

But Rubio points to another newcomer as the most surprising of the group, and maybe on the team: freshman Elizabeth Shelton.

"The person's that been surprising everybody is Liz Shelton," said Rubio. "She has incredible talent and may be one of the best learners I've ever seen. Her improvement has been substantial and she continues to get better every day. We wanted to redshirt Liz, but now we're not sure if that's going to happen. But we know that the future of the program is in good hands with Liz Shelton being on the squad."

MIDDLE BLOCKERS

McKenzie Jacobson highlights the Wildcats' middle blockers, one of the youngest positions on the roster for UA. Jacobson is the lone middle on the Arizona roster with a collegiate start under her belt.

"I like the improvement that McKenzie has made and the work she put in this summer is showing," said Rubio.

Jacobson is joined by redshirt sophomore Jade Turner and a pair of highly-regarded freshmen Devyn Cross and Shardonee Hayes. Hayes has unfortunately been slowed by an eye infection, but Cross and Turner have showed positive signs so far in fall camp.

"Devyn Cross has been better than expected," said Rubio. "She's an elite athlete and I love the way she plays. Jade continues to be a good work in progress. She's got a lot of talent. I think as her confidence grows, she will continue to get better and really make an impact for our team. We need her to be a player that can come in and give us good minutes."

DEFENSIVE SPECIALISTS

The back row has been a strength for the Wildcats for years and seems to be in good hands once again in 2016.

Arizona has led the Pac-12 in digs in each of the last three seasons, including 16.83/set in 2015, the fourth-best figure in school history.

Senior Laura Larson, who has played in every match in her Arizona career, will be the team's libero in 2016. Larson led Arizona with 420 digs in 2015, the fifth most digs in a season in school history. Larson, who assumed full-time libero duties late in the season last year, put up double-figure digs in each of Arizona's last 16 matches, including 20-plus dig efforts in each of Arizona's last three matches of the regular season.

Senior McKenna Painton returns after playing in 102 sets in 2015, averaging 2.38 digs/set.

"I like what the littles are doing, led by Laura," said Rubio. "McKenna Painton's gotta stay healthy but she looks terrific. Sara Watanabe has made big strides. Reilly Killeen has made solid advances. We have a really good group of littles who are skilled and good mentally. We feel like we're in pretty good shape there."