Volleyball Faces DBU in Home Opener

August 29, 2006

Weatherford, OK - Southwestern Oklahoma State plays in front of its first home volleyball crowd tonight (Tuesday, Aug. 29) when the Bulldogs meet the Patriots of Dallas Baptist University at 7 p.m.

SWOSU enters the contest looking for its first win of the season after losing four tough matches at the University of Nebraska-Kearney Classic over the weekend. DBU is 1-3 with its lone victory over Bemidji State at the West Texas A&M Tournament also played last week.

The Bulldogs have gotten solid early play from Janna Green (5-7, Jr., OH, Owasso.) who was named to the UNK All-Tournament. Green leads the team in kills with 37 with her best effort coming with a 14-kill performance in four games against Minnesota-Crookston.

“Janna’s playing really aggressive,” Coach Bo Pagliasotti said. “She’s taking the ball higher and hitting it really hard. It’s coming down with much more velocity.”

DBU, which finished the 2005 season at 13-22, has faced SWOSU one time before.

The Patriots won 3-1 at their place on Oct. 29 of last year.

Pagliasotti said the Patriots are a very experienced team who have a lot of depth and include two players who were recognized as all-conference recognition a year ago.

“We may have to do some adjustments to our basic defense and play both (defensive specialists) Madalyn Cummins and Amanda Ortega at the same time,” Pagliasotti said. “We will have to get after them at the net and do a good job putting up blocks.”

SWOSU will next play Friday and Saturday at the Lone Star Conference/Heartland Crossover Tournament in San Angelo, Texas. The Bulldogs face Texas-Permian Basin and Western New Mexico on Friday and meet Cameron and Angelo State on Saturday.

The next home game for SWOSU is Tuesday, Sept. 5 against Wayland Baptist. Start time is at 7 p.m.