BOX SCORE: WTAMU 3, Angelo State 1 (22-25, 25-18, 25-14, 25-16)

CANYON – The Angelo State volleyball team's season came to an end with a 3-1 loss to West Texas A&M in the NCAA Division II South Central Championship finals on Saturday at the WTAMU Fieldhouse.

The Belles (25-10) won the first set 25-22 behind eight kills from Arielle Bond before the Lady Buffs (34-3) took the final three sets to advance to the NCAA DII Championship next week in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

"The match wasn't what we wanted it to be," ASU head coach Chuck Waddington said. "We came in wanting to win the serve-and-pass battle and we didn't. It was that simple. We weren't in system enough to beat that team. They weren't out of system enough for us to do some things."

Bond led the Belles with 14 kills, while Maddie Huth had nine kills and Leah McWilliams added eight kills. Shelby Wilt finished the match with 16 digs and eight assists and Maggi Jo Keffury had 38 assists and 11 digs. Katie MacLeay contributed 12 digs, Haley Bianco 11 and Kaelen Valdez five for ASU which finished with 76 digs and five blocks defensively in the match.

Huth, Bond and Wilt were named to the NCAA DII South Central All-Tournament team after the match.

The Lady Buffs advance to their second straight Elite Eight and 13th in program history with the win. Laura Iwuchukwu led WT with 13 kills with Halie Harton adding 12 kills and 24 digs, while Kameryn Hayes contributing 35 assists and 12 digs. ASU finished the match with 35 errors to WT's 16 and saw the nation's top blocking team finish with 10 blocks – led by four each from Iwuchukwu, Lauren Bevan, Lexi Davis and Hayes.

ASU's season ends in the regional finals for the second straight season and in the regional tournament for a program's best three straight seasons. It was the final match in the careers of Huth, Valdez and Leah McWilliams who helped the Belles maintain a national ranking throughout their senior season.

"It was a remarkable season for us," Waddington said. "This is going to sting for a while, but Angelo State volleyball has established itself as one of the top programs in the country. These girls have set the bar high and I would go to battle with them every day."