Netters Rally Past Crimson Storm, 3-2

September 26, 2006

Weatherford, OK - Southwestern Oklahoma State University fought through a tight battle with instate rival Southern Nazarene University to come away with a 3-2 volleyball win Tuesday in Weatherford. SWOSU won by scores of 30-27, 21-30, 30-28, 26-30, 17-15. The victory improved SWOSU to 7-13 on the year while SNU dipped to 11-6 with the loss.

Second-year coach Bo Pagliasotti watched as his SWOSU squad rally back from a fifth-game hole in which they trailed by a score of 11-7.

“I told them that if we get back to playing our game, we’ll win.” Pagliasotti said. “We got away from what we were doing at the start. Fortunately, we regrouped and came through with the big points at the end.

Pagliasotti praised the efforts of his entire squad but took special note of setter Tiffany Shedrock, who finished the game with 34 assists and four service aces, including a critical ace to put SWOSU ahead at 13-12 in the fifth.

“Tiffany made some plays that were just incredible tonight,” Pagliasotti said. “She would not let us lose. She’s the only one who can make the plays that she made tonight.”

The Bulldogs finished the two-hour marathon match with a season-high 72 kills on 224 attacks with 50 errors. SWOSU had three players reach double figures in the kill department led by Kasandra Gurtner with 19 and Ashley Pettit with 17. Amber Coles added 10 kills for the Bulldogs who hit .098 as a team.

Defensively, SWOSU had two players – Paula Harry and Lacey Shedrock -- collect 20 or more digs. Shedrock, playing in only her second match of the season, had 21 digs to lead the team while Harry came away with 20.

The Bulldogs return to Lone Star Conference action Thursday when they host Texas Woman’s University at 5 p.m.