SWOSU Unable to Weather Savage Storm

September 18, 2006

Weatherford, OK - Southwestern Oklahoma State found something that had been missing in a few of the season’s previous 15 volleyball matches when the Bulldogs met conference rival Texas A&M-Commerce Saturday in Weatherford.

The Bulldogs put on a show of unmatched intensity and energy and steamrolled the visiting Lions by scores of 30-26, 30-28, 30-26. The victory improved SWOSU to 5-11 on the year and 1-1 in LSC North play. SWOSU has already matched last year’s win total at the season’s midpoint.

Second-year coach SWOSU coach Bo Pagliasotti, a graduate and a former assistant coach at TAMC, said the Bulldogs tried a new strategy against the visiting Lions

“We wanted to play with a lot more energy today and I think it really showed.” Pagliasotti said. “We just kept pressing the action and playing at a much faster tempo than we’ve done all year.”

Even with the frenetic pace, SWOSU maintained a smooth attack percentage of .210, its best of the season. Kasandra Gurtner and Janna Green each had 11 kills, and combined for only six attack errors in 44 combined attempts.

“Kasandra and Janna were big for us today,” Pagilasotti said. “Any time you have your two leading attackers hitting above 300, your going to win some games.”

SWOSU had to dig itself out of two early holes in games one and two. The Bulldogs were down 14-9 in the opener before climbing back when Green’s kill pulled SWOSU to within one at 14-13. The Bulldogs took the lead for good at 18-17 on a service ace by Gurtner.

In the second game, SWOSU was down again 12-8 early but rallied and took the lead late at 20-19 on another kill by Green.

The third and final game was a role reversal for the two teams. This time SWOSU owned a comfortable 14-6 cushion before seeing the Lions awake and tie it at 16-all. The game remained in the balance for the next few points and was tied at 25-25. A kill by Paula Harry led to the game-winner by Gurtner who finished off the match with a thunderous spike to send the Bulldogs into celebratory mood.

SWOSU’s next three games will be on the road at Oklahoma Panhandle State on Tuesday, Central Oklahoma on Thursday and Cameron on Saturday. The Bulldog will return home Tuesday, Sept. 26 against Southern Nazarene at 7 p.m.