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SAN ANGELO – Tears are not new after matches with West Texas A&M for the Angelo State volleyball team, but this time the emotions on display were coming from excitement and pride.

The No. 9 Belles fought for every point with confidence and earned a 3-1 (25-17, 18-25, 25-20, 25-21) Lone Star Conference victory over No. 11 West Texas A&M on Friday at the Junell Center in front of a season-high 1,312 fans. The win over WT (20-4, 12-3 LSC) snapped a 15-match losing streak to the Lady Buffs that went back to 2004 and extends ASU's current winning streak to eight matches. The win also puts the Belles one step closer to earning their first conference championship since 1992.

“It was unreal and a very emotional game,” ASU senior Alex Woolsey said. “We had to hold our emotions back until the end. That was our plan. We had to play with high energy and low emotion because when you play emotional, you can have high highs, or low lows. We had to stay calm throughout the game and be emotional after the game. And we all were.”

Shelby Wilt led the Angelo State defense with a career-high 41 digs in the match, while Maddie Huth had a career high 21 kills and Shelbi Goode added 20 more kills. Woolsey finished the match with 55 assists and 14 digs and Kaelen Valdez came up with 22 digs and eight kills. Katie Coleman added nine kills and Arielle Bond and Huth each had three blocks.

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ASU, which had dropped its previous three regular-season matches to WT in five-set thrillers and the last two title matches in the LSC Championship, finished the match with a team hitting percentage of .222 while WT was held to a .162 percentage. The Belles came out strong with a .268 percentage and led the entire first set and then bounced back from dropping the second set to seal the victory. ASU and WT exchanged leads 10 times in the fourth set, including a dramatic point that tied the set at 13 and saw 25 overs and 74 touches. ASU won the point on a WT error and carried the momentum for three consecutive points.

“This was just a piece of what we are going to do this year,” ASU head coach Chuck Waddington said. “It's a really important piece though. I'm so proud of the leadership on our team. They stayed calm even in crazy situations and it's an unbelievable win.”

Kameryn Hayes led WT with 14 kills, while Lacy Hayes had 39 assists and Lauren Beville contributed 20 digs.

Angelo State returns to action at 2 p.m. on Saturday against Eastern New Mexico at the Junell Center. The match will be Senior Day for Emily Booth, Katie Coleman, Chelsea Gibson, Alisa Meredith and Alex Woolsey. ASU remains in first place in the conference with five matches remaining in the regular season.