Volleyball Season Nearing End

October 31, 2005

Weatherford, OK - Southwestern Oklahoma State will end its first-ever intercollegiate volleyball season this week with two important home games against teams battling for a spot in the Lone Star Conference Tournament. The Bulldogs, under the direction of coach Bo Pagliasotti, play Midwestern State Thursday and then conclude the season Saturday with a match against Texas Woman’s.

SWOSU (5-25 and 1-8 in the LSC North) will look to avenge two earlier losses to the pair of Texas schools which would juggle the standings on the eve of the six-team LSC Tournament. TWU (15-16 overall) is currently second in the North with a league mark of 7-3. MSU (24-10 overall) is in fourth at 5-5.

“These are winnable games,” Pagliasotti said. “Both teams are very similar in styles and the way they attack the ball. Like us, they each have been hot-and-cold at times this year.”

SWOSU has given a commendable showing in its first year pushing much more experienced teams to the limit before bowing in the end. Misfortune (a controversial no-contest ruling), bad luck (take your pick) and a season-ending injury to its best player (Paula Harry) have all conspired to work against the Bulldogs at times.

“Ending on a good note is really important for us,” Pagliasotti said. “People have noticed our scrappiness and the way we compete for each point. Winning these last two games would help solidify what they’ve all been saying.”

Even Harry out in the last 13 matches, SWOSU has pieced together an offensive attack centered around the play of setter Tiffany Shedrock while sophomore Kasandra Gurtner has been a force defensively at the net.

Shedrock, a sophomore from New Braunfels, Texas, is among the league’s top setters averaging 9.72 a game. She had 110 in a two-match span against Texas A&M-Commerce and Southeastern Oklahoma.

Gurtner, a sophomore from Cimarron, Kan., leads the team in blocks with 99 and ranks seventh in the league overall in that category. Although she has cooled lately, Gurtner is dangerous on the offensive end as well. She leads the team in kills (279) and hitting percentage (.160)

Krista Butler and Tennessee Brown are two other players that have picked up their game as of late. Butler, an Oklahoma City junior, has had six matches in which she has had 10 or more kills this season, including three in the last seven games. Brown, a Peaster, Texas sophomore, is second on the team with 233 kills and her hitting percentage of .536, two weeks ago against Southeastern has been the highest of any player this year.

Both the MSU and TWU games will be played at Rankin Williams Fieldhouse.