By Wes Bloomquist || wes.bloomquist@angelo.edu
SAN ANGELO – Shelby Wilt had 20 digs and
Mallory Blauser put away 15 kills as the Angelo State volleyball team made quick work of Texas A&M-Commerce in a three-set Lone Star Conference win on Tuesday at the Junell Center.
The Belles (11-2, 6-1 LSC) finished the straight-set victory with a .286 attacking percentage and limited the Lions (3-12, 1-5 LSC) to a .110 percentage in their sixth sweep of the season. ASU rarely trailed throughout the match and went on a 12-0 run with
Katie MacLeay at the serve to end the match. The final set was at 16-14 in A&M-Commerce's favor when
Cerbi Ritchey delivered a kill to make it 16-15 and spark a rally which wouldn't end until the final point was delivered on a Blauser kill to give the Belles a 25-20, 25-20, 25-16 victory. Â
"We want to go into matches wanting to beat teams opposed to wanting to win the match," ASU head coach
Chuck Waddington said. "There's a big difference between wanting to beat somebody and wanting to win. I felt like we did ok with that in the first and second set in that area, but I feel like we finished really strong with that mentality."
Blauser, who now leads the Belles with 176 kills on the season, finished the match with her 15 kills and a .216 attacking percentage.
Abbie Lynn and
Cerbi Ritchey added 10 kills each and
Zoey Hanrahan delivered five kills in the win which saw setter
Alexa Johnson deliver 38 assists.
"We are doing a good job of moving the ball around," Waddington said. "I'd like to see our middles get the ball a little bit more, but we are doing a good job of moving it around on the pins and keeping teams off balance which is good."
While the ASU offense was rolling, the defense continued to play the way it has all season with Wilt leading the way with her 20 digs. The Belles also received double-digit dig performances from
Kelly Hasbrouck who finished the match with 14 digs,
Katie MacLeay added 11 and
Haley Bianco provided 10. Hanrahan, who leads ASU with 35 blocks this season, led the team with three blocks against the Lions and Blauser chipped in two blocks to go along with her attacking.
The Belles return to action this weekend with a pair of matches in Stephenville. ASU opens the weekend with a 6 p.m. conference match on Friday against Tarleton State before venturing outside of LSC play with a noon match on Saturday against Newman at Wisdom Gym.
"It's going to be a tough match in front of a loud crowd at Tarleton," Waddington said. "They're going to bring it. They are a high-end team with a lot of great players on their team. We're going to have to be prepared mentally for what we're about to face and then go out and get the job done physically."
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