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SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State volleyball team was dominant on the first day of the 2013 season, earning commanding sweeps over Dallas Baptist and Colorado State-Pueblo on Friday at the Junell Center.

"We stayed at our level and not to just get by and win these matches," ASU head coach Chuck Waddington said. "That's great to see. It didn't matter who was on the other side of the net because we just took care of what we needed to do to be successful. There was no fluctuations or dips in intensity in either of the matches."

The Belles return to action at noon on Saturday with a match against Colorado Mesa (2-0) before finishing off the ASU Invitational at 6 p.m. against Arkansas Fort Smith (1-1). CMU is also unblemished coming into the match after taking wins over UAFS and Dallas Baptist on Friday, while UAFS was dealt the defeat to CMU but bounced back with a win over Tarleton State (1-1).

"It's really important for us to handle the ball really well and serve tough tomorrow," Waddington said. "We're going to be playing a couple of talented teams who will challenge us."

Angelo State 3, Colorado State-Pueblo 0 (25-10, 25-12, 25-13)

ASU opened the match against CSU-Pueblo with 13 straight points and cruised to 2-0 on the season with sweep of the ThunderWolves. The Belles finished the match with a .343 team hitting percentage and four blocks, while CSU-Pueblo was limited to a -.009 team hitting percentage.

Freshman Courtney Bartusiak led the Belles with 13 kills and a .667 hitting percentage, while Leah McWilliams had 11 kills and a team-leading 12 digs. Maddie Huth added seven kills (.500 hitting percentage) and two blocks. Maggi Jo Keffury recorded 24 assists in two sets of action and freshman Whitney Nunez had 10 assists in the third set.

Box Score

ASU only lost the lead twice in the entire match and was only blocked once. The Belles were strong throughout, improving on a .393 hitting percentage in the first set with a .412 percentage in the second with only one error committed in 34 attacks. 
Angelo State 3, Dallas Baptist 0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-20)

Huth had 15 kills and three blocks to help lead the Angelo State volleyball team to a season-opening sweep of Dallas Baptist on Friday in its first match of the ASU Invitational.

"We did a good job of controlling our side of the net, but we still need to clean up our blocking," Huth said. "It was a great start to the season. Everyone was on the same page most of the match and we're looking forward to the next one."

Box Score

Keffury recorded 36 assists and six digs in her debut at the setter position at ASU, while sophomore defensive specialist Katie MacLeay had 12 digs and Wilt and McWilliams each had 11 digs. McWilliams also had nine kills and freshman Courtney Bartusiak had five kills in her first collegiate match.

Erika Papadeas led DBU with eight kills, while Tyler Bradsher finished with 16 assists and nine digs for the Patriots who play Colorado Mesa at 4 p.m. CMU opened its season with a 3-0 win over Arkansas Fort Smith in the first match of the invitational. In other action, Tarleton State earned a 3-1 win over Colorado State-Pueblo.