Aug. 28, 2009

Box Score in PDF Format

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Opening its season in impressive fashion, the Arizona volleyball team swept the Louisville Cardinals 3-0 in the night cap of day one of the Sheraton Riverside Cardinal Classic on Friday. Final set scores were 25-23, 25-20, 25-23.

The Wildcats (1-0) used a steady dose of Tiffany Owens who recorded a match high 12 kills and Dana Hutchinson who chipped in with nine kills to topple the host Cardinals (0-1).

Setter Paige Weber recorded 34 assists for Arizona which has now won six straight season opening matches and notched its first victory in its season debut on the road since 2004.

“I thought our team performed great tonight,” said head coach Dave Rubio.  “It’s always a little nerve racking going into a match against an opponent that you don’t see much of, but I thought our girls played tough against a very physical team in Louisville.”

After shaking off some early mistakes during set one, Arizona settled in and took set two with relative ease.  The Cats wouldn’t let up in set three as Louisville was unsuccessful in its comeback attempt. 

In a homecoming of sorts, senior Jacy Norton, a Louisville native, had five blocks for Arizona which recorded a hitting percentage of .295 through three sets.  Whitney Dosty tallied eight kills and four blocks while hitting .286 for the match.

During set two, Dosty got in on the action with four kills and one block.  Dosty and Owens were setup by Weber who recorded 15 assists over the second set.

In set one, Arizona found itself down 23-21 before ripping off four consecutive points to go up 1-0 in the match.  Weber had three kills and 10 assists during set one to go with three kills and two blocks by Owens.   In total, the Wildcats were able to overcome three service errors to take the set.

Tomorrow Arizona will have a doubleheader as they play Belmont at 9 a.m. MST and Pittsburgh at 2 p.m. MST.