COMMERCE – The Angelo State volleyball team earned a 3-2 (25-12, 21-25, 25-19, 22-25, 15-11) win over Texas A&M-Commerce on Friday to clinch the program's first Lone Star Conference regular-season championship since 1992.

The No. 9 Belles (25-3, 18-1 LSC) have now won 12 straight matches and will host the LSC Championship tournament which will take place in the Junell Center from Nov. 15-17. ASU will open their tournament play at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday against the No. 8 seed in the tournament.

“We came out on fire but they kept fighting,” Waddington said. “It was a nail-baiter the whole night where really either team could have won. Winning the championship is very cool and was one of our goals. It is very exciting for us and is something that our team should take a lot of pride in. This was a really tough match but showed what our team has been about all season.”

Alex Woolsey finished the match with 58 assists and overtook Amber Nelson's career record at Angelo State in the process. Woolsey now has 4,842 assists in her career, while more importantly, leading ASU to its first conference championship in 20 years.

“It feels great and is a career achievement, but the most important thing was that we won tonight and won the championship,” Woolsey said. “We are all very excited about winning the championship. We didn't want pressure going into tomorrow and it feels awesome to be the first ones to win it in 20 years. It really shows the hard work that our entire team has put into getting here.”

“She has become a great leader and a great setter,” said Waddington of Woolsey. “She has her finger prints all over this program and I know she wants more. It is about us winning for her right now.”

Kaelen Valdez led the Belles with a career-high 25 kills and added 14 digs, while Maddie Huth had 20 kills and seven blocks. Shelby Wilt added 36 digs with Shelbi Goode contributing 12 kills and two blocks. Woolsey tacked on 14 digs to her record-setting night. Valdez's previous career high was 20 in a match against Abilene Christian last season, while Huth went over 20 kills for the second time this season.

“She was our go-to kid tonight,” said Waddington of Valdez. “She took huge swings and made it hard for them to know what was coming.”

 ASU opened the night with a 13-0 lead in the first set before the Lions settled in and gave the Belles one of their toughest matches of the season. The five-set win evens ASU's record in five-set matches at 2-2 and the Belles improved to 8-1 in conference road matches this season.

Rachel Robertson led TAMU-Commerce (20-9, 11-8 LSC) with 17 kills and added five blocks, while Jordan Neal contributed 37 assists and 13 digs for the Lions.

The Belles conclude their regular season at 2 p.m. on Saturday with a match against Texas Woman's in Denton.

“Our goal for the weekend is to go 2-0,” Waddington said. “We won't be happy if come back home with less than that.”