STEPHENVILLE, Texas – The Angelo State volleyball team fell on the road to Tarleton State in four hard fought sets (23-25, 28-26, 26-28, 19-25) Wednesday night.
With the loss, the Belles drop to 19-5 overall and 8-2 in the Lone Star Conference. Tarleton State moves to 19-3, 9-1 LCS and takes over first first in the conference.
"There was no quit in my team," said ASU head coach Chuck Waddington said. "We had chances to win, but couldn't quite get over the hump. We responded well when Mallory [Blauser] went down with an injury. It was a tough environment but we handled it well. We are looking forward to seeing them again down the road."
Sophomores Brianna Sotello (12) and Abbie Lynn (10) both hit double-digit kills, while Morgan Seaton tallied nine of her own. Maggi Jo Keffury distributed the ball 45 times bringing her season total to 968. This was the senior's 13th match marking at least 40 assists. Katie MacLeay and Mallory Davidson added two service aces a piece. Davidson tied her season high with the pair.
Seaton (3), Lynn (2), Sotello (2) and Zoey Hanrahan (2) all chalked up multiple blocks. Senior libero Macleay led the squad with 14 digs which has given her 22 matches on the year with double-digit digs. Both Sotello and Davidson each tallied nine digs of their own.
After dropping the hard fought first set, the Belles began the second set down 5-1 when Mallory Blauser got the squad back on track with a kill that set off a 5-2 run that would bring the score to an even 7-7. The two teams exchanged points until ASU found itself down 24-22. Outside hitter Lynn went on a tare, dropping in four straight kill shots to keep ASU in the set. A key block from Hanrahan and Sotello would give the Belles a 27-26 lead when Lynn continued her groove with a service ace that put the set away for the Belles. With a final score of 28-26, ASU would tie up the match at a set a piece before heading into the break.
Sets three and four were battles as well. ASU saw key set points from Seaton, Hanrahan, MacLeay, Sotello and Lynn. Down 20-18 in the third, Lynn and Sotello fired in kills that gave ASU a 22-20 lead. Despite the Belles best efforts TSU would tack on an 8-4 run to give them the third set 28-26 and the 2-1 set lead.
In the final set, ASU scored first with a kill from Alyssa Orr. Following Orr's lead Hanrahan and Sotello would add kills of their own with Davidson chiming in with a service ace. This gave the Belles a 6-3 lead, but a 14-3 run by the Texanns would ultimately give them the final push they needed to aquire a strong lead and take the set and the match.
Angelo State continues its road trip with a pair of matches Friday, Oct 23 at 3 p.m against Dallas Baptist and at 7 p.m. against St. Mary's in San Antonio.
