The Washington volleyball team preaches that every match during the season is of equal importance, but with two conference powerhouses visiting Seattle this weekend and first place in the Pac-10 on the line, the No. 4 Huskies know that the intensity will rise today and tomorrow.

Husky fans will be treated to a pair of Pac-10 showdowns this weekend, with No. 5 Stanford (15-6, 8-3 Pac-10) visiting Hec Edmonson Pavilion tonight and No. 13 Cal (13-8, 6-5) Saturday night. The UW holds a slim one-game lead over the Cardinal.

The Cardinal have been one of only two teams to defeat the UW this season. The last time the two met, Stanford came back from a 2-1 deficit and snapped the Huskies’ 15-match win streak. Though revenge may be on their minds, the Husky players won’t let it distract them.

“There is a revenge factor, but we try not to keep that in our heads,” sophomore Bianca Rowland said. “We just want to go out and do what we know how to do, and hopefully it will stop them this time.”

When the Huskies visited Berkeley nearly one month ago, their offense led them to a 3-0 sweep over the Golden Bears. But Cal showed that they have had success on the road this year when they upended No. 3 Hawaii in September.

The Huskies have been having some of their best practices of the year in the past few weeks. After committing 18 service errors in a loss to WSU, McLaughlin added extra emphasis on serving and increased the competition and intensity in practice, and the players have responded. At Wednesday’s practice, the team missed only 12 percent of their serves.

“These guys have responded to the work and the emphasis and we got a little return,” McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin didn’t point out any specific players who stood out this week, but rather noted the team has improved as a whole.

“It’s been collective,” McLaughlin said of the improvements. “Different contributions, different places — collectively, we’ve made some progress.”

Home has been sweet for the Huskies, as they have yet to drop a match at Hec Ed this year. The UW will play five of its last seven games at home, and the home-court advantage will be needed more than ever this weekend. In the loss to Stanford, the Palo Alto crowd seemed to get to the Huskies as they lost their composure. Players hope the opposite will happen tonight.

“It’s going to be an intense crowd, so hopefully that works against Stanford and messes up their game plan,” Rowland said.

Last week, the UW began the second half of the season strong with two wins against Arizona and Arizona State. Though the team has improved every week and addressed various issues apparent in the two losses to WSU and Stanford, the players still believe the team hasn’t reached its full potential just yet.

“I think we still have room to improve,” said junior Kindra Carlson, who racked up a career-high 24 kills in last weekend’s win over Arizona State. “I think we’re really close, but we haven’t hit it yet.”

Reach reporter Taylor Soper at sports@dailyuw.com.