Volleyball Team Readies For League Play

September 11, 2006

Weatherford--Southwestern Oklahoma State is getting ready for its biggest matches of the 2006 volleyball season when the Bulldogs begin Lone Star Conference play with contests against Southeastern Oklahoma on Thursday and Texas A&M-Commerce on Saturday. Both matches are at Rankin Williams Fieldhouse.

The Bulldogs, under second-year coach Bo Pagliasotti, will enter the week with a 4-10 mark after winning one of three matches at the LSC/Heartland Conference Crossover Tournament in Wichita Falls, Texas. The Bulldogs defeated Panhandle State 30-24, 30-19, 30-24 and later fell to St. Mary’s 30-23, 30-28 and 30-25. SWOSU’s lost its last match was against Montana State-Billings by scores of 30-26, 31-29, 30-24.

The 13 match season for the Bulldogs has featured some of the top teams in the region, including nationally-ranked Nebraska-Kearney among others.

“We wanted to test ourselves against some of the best teams out there,” Pagliasotti said. “I feel the quickest way for us to get better is to play those types of teams. Our record may not be what we like, but there is no doubt we’re a better team. I think that will be proven once we begin conference play.”

Pagliasotti said one of the key improvements for the Bulldogs has been the play of setter Tiffany Shedrock (Jr., New Branunfels, Texas). Shedrock is averaging 9.57 assists per game and is leading an offense that has improved its attack average to .094 percent, an improvement of .015 over last season’s total of .079.

“We’re trying to spread it around offensively to a lot more hitters and Tiffany has been doing a great job at keeping everyone involved,” Pagliasotti said. “When she plays well it makes us that much tougher to defend.”

Southeastern was one of the surprise teams in the league last year finishing with a winning record (19-16) for the first time in their program’s eight-year history. The Savage Storm is led by 6-1 outside hitter Olivia Franceskini, an international player from Croatia. SOSU defeated the Bulldogs in both matches last year, including a thrilling five-setter that’s outcome remained in the balance to the very end.

Texas A&M-Commerce, the school where Pagliasotti formerly coached and graduated from, has quickly emerged as the Bulldogs top rival. SWOSU defeated the Lions, 3-2, in Weatherford to avenge a controversial no-contest match earlier in the year. SWOSU led two games to one before an electrical failure in the gym forced its cancellation. The match was ruled a no-contest by the league office because it had not progressed to a point of reasonable conclusion.

“Were at the point of the season in which we’ve been preparing for,” Pagliasotti said. “Our goal is to make it to the conference post-season tournament and hopefully we can create some early momentum by winning these two matches.”