Arizona’s long climb to relevance in NCAA women’s volleyball included a 2000 Pac-10 championship, three bursts into the Sweet 16 and signing the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class in the fall of 2001.
In a conference with national champions UCLA, Stanford and USC, that is known as swimming against the tide.
But coach Dave Rubio’s 10th Arizona team, 2001, broke through and went to the Final Four, which would’ve seemed impossible when he was hired from Cal-Bakersfield a decade earlier.
“I knew what I was getting into,’’ Rubio said. “The challenge of competing against Stanford, UCLA and USC is a great motivator. You can’t let up or you might never get back to that level.’’
Rubio’s Cal-Bakersfield club won the 1989 Division II national championship, but the challenge of being relevant in the volleyball-strong Pac-10 was a challenge at a higher level. This is what Arizona faced when it flew to San Diego to play in the 2001 Final Four:
Long Beach State. Record: 32-0.
Nebraska. Record: 31-1.
Stanford. Record: 31-2.
Arizona's All-American setter Dana Burkholder sets the ball during the UA's sweep of Cal at McKale Center in 2001.
“We won’t be intimidated,’’ said Rubio. “Our conference has really prepared us to play against this level of competition. I don’t feel like an underdog.’’
Arizona’s 2001 volleyball team produced two first-team All-Americans, Dana Burkholder and Jill Talbot. Both of their jerseys hang in the Ring of Honor at McKale Center. Rubio surrounded his All-Americans with quality Pac-10 players Shannon Torregrosa, Stefani Saragosa and Lisa Rutledge.
That group enabled Arizona to be seeded No. 5 overall in the NCAA Tournament. Proof of the difficulty of Pac-10 volleyball: Stanford was the No. 2 seed and USC was No. 4. Arizona finished third in the conference that season, 14-4 overall and was 25-4 entering the Final Four.
A year earlier, Arizona reached the Elite Eight and before the ’01 season began Rubio said “this might be our best team; we’ve got to prove it night in and night out, but we’re going to be very good.’’
The only key losses from the 2000 Elite Eight team — which remains Arizona's only Pac-10/12 championship volleyball squad — were Marisa DaLee and Allison Napier. The ’00 Wildcats were eliminated by 34-0 Nebraska, which won the national championship.
The message had long ago been absorbed by Rubio and his volleyball players: There would be no easy touches in the NCAA Tournament.
In the ’01 NCAAs, Arizona opened with decisive victories over Eastern Illinois, Illinois and Pacific before rallying to beat favored USC in Los Angeles in the Elite Eight.
Lisa Rutledge celebrates in UA's match against Washington in 2001.
A week later, Rubio attended the annual NCAA volleyball coaches’ convention in San Diego two days before the Final Four. Even though he had coached Arizona to a 116-35 record over five seasons, he understood the meaning of being in the Final Four.
“I would come to the convention year after year thinking ‘am I ever going to get here?’ ‘’ he said. “I now understand how much of an accomplishment it is.’’
What came next was even a greater challenge. Long Beach State, which had won two NCAA championships, was loaded. The 49ers star player was 6-foot 7-inch Tayyiba Haneef-Park, who Rubio compared to a volleyball version of Shaquille O’Neal.
“We’re not going to be able to completely shut her down,’’ he said. “Unless I bring Luke Walton out here, I’m not sure we’ll be able to match up with her.’’
Head coach Dave Rubio turned UA into one of the best volleyball programs in the country in the early 2000s.
Long Beach State won close sets 30-27 and 30-25 before the Wildcats wore down. Hanceef was dominant. The 49ers won the deciding set 30-20. A day later, Stanford beat Long Beach State in the championship.
“As disappointed as I am that we lost, I’m stoked that we broke the barrier for Arizona and got this far,’’ said Burkholder. “It was a year I’ll never forget.’’
A year later, with high school All-Americans Kim Glass, a future USA Olympian, and Canyon del Oro’s national Gatorade Player of the Year Bre Ladd as Arizona freshmen, the Wildcats were again a national contender, reaching the Elite Eight, as they also would in 2005.
But the ’01 Wildcats remain the school’s only Final Four team in the school’s 48 years of volleyball competition.
