Burkholder possibly UA's most important recruit ever
Arizona volleyball player Dana Burkholder laughs during a volleyball camp at McKale Center on July 12, 2001. Photo by Aaron J. Latham / Arizona Daily Star
Dana Burkholder, really, had no business going to Arizona.
Burkholder was considered the top setter in the nation as a high school senior in 1998.
Arizona wasn’t at the point in its program where it was, really, supposed to be in the running for recruits like Burkholder. That was reserved for teams like UCLA and Nebraska.
Dave Rubio was entering his seventh year, to that point twice bringing the Wildcats to the Sweet 16. That was the furthest the UA program — then in its 20th year — had ever gone.
But Burkholder liked Rubio’s pitch for her coming to Tucson, and eventually spurned big-time programs to become a Wildcat. She was, quite possibly, the most important recruit to ever come to Arizona.
And she made her presence felt:
• In Year 1, the Wildcats made it to the NCAA Tournament’s second round.
• In Year 2, they advanced to the Sweet 16.
• In Year 3, the Elite Eight.
• And in Year 4, 2001, Burkholder helped lead the Cats to the Final Four.
“The things Dana's done and the level she's brought this program to are so much beyond the tournament and wins and losses,” Rubio told the Star then. “The program in the last three years has risen to heights it never even imagined before she got here."
