CANYON – The No. 17-ranked Angelo State volleyball team saw its seven-match winning streak end with a 3-0 Lone Star Conference loss to No. 6 West Texas A&M on Friday at the WTAMU Fieldhouse.
The Belles (19-7, 10-4 LSC) played tough throughout the match, but were unable to stop the Lady Buffs (24-3, 13-0 LSC) from winning their 18th straight match and remain undefeated in LSC play. ASU will return to action at 7 p.m. (CST) on Saturday against Eastern New Mexico in Portales, N.M.
"I felt like we competed hard, but just didn't take advantage of our chances late in sets two and three," ASU head coach
Chuck Waddington said. "It was a good match. I think we learned some things that could help us down the road."
Arielle Bond led the Belles with 13 kills, while
Maddie Huth had 10 kills, a match-high .391 hitting percentage and two blocks.
Shelby Wilt continued her strong defensive work with 24 digs in the three-set match, while
Courtney Bartusiak recorded eight kills and a .333 hitting percentage.
Kaelen Valdez contributed 12 digs and seven kills for the Belles who finished match with a .147 hitting percentage compared to WT's .239 hitting percentage. ASU setter
Maggi Jo Keffury recorded 41 assists and had seven digs with
Haley Bianco supplying nine digs and
Katie MacLeay another six digs. Keffury's 41 assists take her to 1,040 assists on the season.
West Texas A&M sweeps the season series against the Belles with the win after also taking a 3-1 win earlier this season at the Junell Center. The win also secured the LSC Championship for WT. The Lady Buffs outblocked ASU 11.5-2 in the match with Laura Iwuchukwu leading the way with nine blocks and also contributing 10 kills. Lauren Bevan led WT with 13 kills and a .361 hitting percentage.
Angelo State committed 24 errors to WT's 14 in the match to negate a 10-dig advantage (66-56). The Belles will return from their two-match conference road trip to play at 7 p.m. on Wednesday against Incarnate Word in a non-conference match which will also be the final match at the Junell Center this season.
