Huskies aim to mark Wildcat territory

By Ben Miller

Oct 27, 2005, 12:00 AM

The No.2 Washington women's volleyball team will try to play the role of home-wrecker tonight as it attempts to end the University of Arizona's undefeated streak at home. The No. 9 Wildcats (15-3, 7-2) are playing volleyball at a level among the best in the Pac-10. In Arizona's last four matches, it has played four nationally ranked teams and won against three. Among the three victories was an upset over No. 5 Stanford, handing the team just their third loss of the season. The Wildcats have been unbeatable at the McKale Center this season. They have dropped just two games there all year and hold a 7-0 record at home. "It's tough playing down there, their fans get into it," coach Jim McLaughlin said. "They've had a good tradition and they are looking forward to playing a top team." Tonight's match in Tucson opens up the second half of the Huskies (18-0 overall, 9-0 Pac-10) conference schedule. The Huskies are on the road for the second consecutive weekend, coming off sweeps of Oregon and Oregon State last weekend. At this same point in the conference season last year, the Huskies were also undefeated. So far this season, Washington has only lost three games out of the 57 it has played in 18 matches. All three came in the same weekend as they dropped two to California and one to Stanford on the road. Arizona will be the third top-10 opponent that the Huskies have faced this season. The other two teams that were ranked among the top-10 in the nation when the UW played them were No. 6 Hawaii and Stanford -- which was ranked third -- three weeks ago. "I know they're physical and they can play at a high level," McLaughlin said about the Wildcats. "I just hope that we're better, and we should be." Kim Glass leads Arizona's offense. The senior Wildcat leads the team with 4.75 kills per game. She also adds a refined defensive game as well as she boasts averages of 3.25 digs and 0.87 blocks per game. Jennifer Abernathy also adds over four kills per game on offense. She enters the match killing the ball at a rate of 4.10 times per game. In their first match on Oct. 1, the Huskies made short order of the Wildcats as they swept their way to an easy 3-0 victory in front of the home crowd. It was Washington's 12th win of the season and third straight over Arizona. In the match the UW held statistical advantages in hitting percentage, kills, digs and blocks on the evening. In the all-time series between the two teams, the Wildcats hold a sizable 24-18 advantage over the Huskies. Entering the weekend, Washington is one of just four teams that remain undefeated on the season in the CSTV/AVCA top-25 poll. Joining them are No. 1 Nebraska, No. 6 Louisville and No. 13 BYU. Sophomore Alesha Deesing is having a breakout season this year with her increased playing time. She is among the leaders in multiple Pac-10 statistical categories and even has the top hitting percentage in the conference. She is hitting .466 on the season. The match begins tonight at 7 p.m. (MST), and the Huskies will face Arizona State tomorrow at the same time.

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