SAN ANGELO – Haley Bianco has claimed the Lone Star Conference's Defensive Player of the Week award after a 17-dig performance in a sweep of Abilene Christian last Friday at the Junell Center. Bianco also recorded the match's final point with an ace to help the Belles win the only match they played last week and improve to 19-3 overall this season.

The award is the first for the freshman from Austin and comes just hours before the No. 9 Belles return to action at 7 p.m. tonight against Incarnate Word. Bianco has played in all 22 matches this season for ASU and has recorded 125 digs.

“She is a spark plug off the bench for us,” ASU head coach Chuck Waddington said. “She comes in and has a back row job where she digs a ton of balls. She was everywhere making play after play for us. She has been making a lot of great digs for us all season, but she did even more against Abilene which is good to see as the season goes along. She also served tough and kept them off balance.”

Bianco's award makes three times this season a Belle has earned defensive player of the week after sophomore Shelby Wilt has won the defensive award twice this season.