Sept. 11, 2007

The Southwestern University volleyball team jumped four spots to 15th in the nation in the last CSTV/AVCA Division III Coaches Top 25 Poll that was released on Tuesday (Sept. 11).

The Pirates opened the season a perfect 4-0 at the UTD Gilbert Memorial Tournament in Dallas, TX. SU defeated four different American Southwest Conference schools, losing just two games in four matches. Sophomore Audra Gentry (Albuquerque, NM/Sandia Preparatory) stepped in to the starting lineup and averaged 3.85 kills for the Pirates.

The following weekend, SU traveled to Lexington, VA where the Pirates rolled through four more wins to improve to 8-0. They defeated Christopher Newport College, Washington & Lee University and a pair of NAIA schools. Senior Katy Lukaszewski (Pasadena, TX/Deer Park HS) was named the tournament Most Valuable Player with 53 kills and a .308 hitting percentage. Setter Marie Bruce (Austin, TX/Connally HS) is currently third in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference with 11.11 assists per game.

The Pirates begin conference play this weekend as they travel to Colorado Springs, CO for four matches on Friday (Sept. 14) and Saturday (Sept. 15).