CANYON – Angelo State will be making its fifth straight Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championship final appearance at 5 p.m. tonight when it challenges Tarleton State for the tournament title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II South Central Championships at the WTAMU Fieldhouse. ASU has won nine of its last 11 matches coming into the final and are 6-5 all-time in conference final matches, while TSU will be playing in its program's first tournament final. This will be the first ever postseason match between the two programs and the third meeting between the teams this season.
"It is a goal of our program to put ourselves in position to be playing for championships year in and year out," ASU head coach
Chuck Waddington said. "I'm proud of this group for putting us in that position."
The Belles (21-7) are making their 12th tournament finals appearance in program history and are looking to win their first tournament championship since 1992. A win would secure the program's fourth straight NCAA appearance which would extend a program record. The TexAnns (22-7) are making their first trip to the conference finals after upsetting top-seeded West Texas A&M with a five-set win in Friday's semifinals. ASU, which has won six tournament championships in program history, is coming off a four-set victory over Cameron in the semifinals after taking a four-set win over Eastern New Mexico in the quarterfinals. The Belles and TexAnns split their regular-season series with TSU winning in straight sets in Stephenville before ASU secured a five-set win at the Junell Center last Friday. This will be the first time ASU and TSU have met in the tournament.
Shelby Wilt, who was named the LSC Libero of the Year, leads Angelo State with 575 digs this season (5.58 per set) and
Katie MacLeay has added another 356 digs.
Mallory Blauser leads the team with 351 kills with
Abbie Lynn providing 269 kills.
Brianna Sotello has 206 kills and 210 digs coming into the tournament final, while
Zoey Hanrahan has 200 kills this season after a career-high 15 kills in the semifinals against Cameron. Hanrahan leads ASU with 93 blocks this season, while
Daeleigh Castile has 60 blocks and 126 kills for the Belles. Lynn led the Belles with a career-high 21 kills in the quarterfinals against ENMU and Sotello has recorded double-doubles in each of the tournament matches.
Angelo State has met West Texas A&M in the past four conference finals, but will face a tough TexAnn team which ended an eight-year run of tournament championships by the Lady Buffs with their win on Friday. TSU comes into the match following a semifinal sweep of Texas A&M-Kingsville in the semifinals and then its five-set win over WT on Friday. Haley Roberts, who was named the LSC Freshman of the Year, leads the TexAnns with 458 kills this season with an average of 4.24 kills per set. Kenya Alexander leads the team with 164 blocks (1.48 per set) and has also provided 245 kills. Emily Medlin has supplied 728 assists with Chandler Gow adding 455 assist for the offense, while Katie Covell tops the defense with 496 digs (4.47 per set).
"Tarleton is probably the most talented team in the conference," Waddington said. "They have strong attackers in every spot and the best blocker in the nation on their team."
