Volleyball Bulldogs Open Spring Slate In Texas
Coach Jenny Hazelwood's Bulldogs play four matches Saturday in the First Annual Texas Pride Collegiate Invitational hosted by the Texas Pride Volleyball Club at Slaters Sports Zone in Houston. MSU opens the day-long event against the University of Houston (8:30 a.m.) and then takes on the University of Texas (10:50 a.m.), Tulsa (2:20 p.m.) and Texas Christian University (3:30 p.m.). Sixteen collegiate volleyball teams are entered in the inaugural event.
“Our girls have been working extremely hard this spring, and we are really looking forward to having the opportunity to play against such strong competition,” said Hazelwood, also a native Texan. “Our spring matches are a great chance to get everybody some real match experience in preparation for the fall, and I'm ready to see how everybody performs in game situations and see how much we have grown as a team.”
The weekend tournament in Houston will be a homecoming of sorts for four members of the MSU volleyball team who hail from the Lone Star State --- junior outside hitter Chanelle Baker (Carrollton), sophomore setter Paris Perret (Frisco), senior outside hitter Caitlin Rance (Kingwood) and freshman outside hitter Sarah Temperilli (Houston). Rance paced the 2010 Bulldogs with a .215 attack percentage and ranked second on the club with 254 digs while Perret led State with 1024 assists and Baker, a 28-match starter, tallied 159 kills and 41 total blocks.
MSU's 2011 spring schedule also includes a tournament April 2 and an April 9 alumni match (11 a.m.) at the Newell-Grissom Building before wrapping up April 16 with tournament competition at Jackson State.