CANYON, Texas – Angelo State volleyball got it first win against West Texas A&M in Canyon since 1993 on Friday night in five sets (17-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-22, 15-13).
The Belles jump to 23-5, 9-2 LSC with the win in Canyon. This marks the first time in 22 years, and the first time in volleyball head coach Chuck Waddington's career that ASU has defeated WTAMU on the road. The road win improved ASU's road record to 12-5 this season. With the Loss the Lady Buffs now drop to 11-15, 3-10 LSC. Â Â
"West Texas has improved a great deal since our last match up and I am really proud of my team for overcoming a ridiculously long mental hurdle for the program," said Waddington. "It was fitting that we won in the fifth set 15-13 after losing countless times here in Canyon by that same score."
The Belles attack was lead Brianna Sotello, who racked 23 kills, 14 digs and .385 clip marked her 16th double-double of the 2015 season. The 23 kills also tied a season high that was set one week ago. She is currently the team leader with 370 kills on the year. Along with the 14 digs on defense, the sophomore added 2 total blocks.
Mallory Blauser, Abbie Lynn, and Morgan Seaton were also key contributors to the attack. Blauser tallied 22 kills and a .302 attack percentage on the night. This was the 10th match that the outside hitter has marked at least 15 kills. With Lynn's 10 kills against WTAMU, she has now hit her sixth consecutive double-digit kill match. She also added a block to mix giving her 37 total on this year. Completing the attack leaders, Seaton fired in 12 kills for the third highest total of the night. She also marked a .385 clip and 3 block for the night.
Maggi Jo Keffury once again led ASU in assist for the match by tying her season high with 64. The senior is now only two away from breaking the 1200 assist mark for 2015. Her 22 digs on defense also gave the setter her 12th double-double of the year.
Leading the defense against the Lady Buffs, Katie MacLeay tallied 26 digs for her 16th match of the year with over 20 digs. The senior has now accrued 553 digs on the season.
After dropping the first set to West Texas, 17-25, Blauser got the Belles back in the right direction when she started the second set with an authoritative kill. This stunned the Lady Buffs into three consecutive attack errors. Sotello added a kill of her own and the Belles were sitting on a 5-1 lead. With the score moving to 12-8 in favor of ASU, Blauser dropped in another to kick of an 8-1 run that saw key contributions from Lynn and Seaton. WTAMU would close the gap bringing the set score to 24-17 when Taylor Lee Seaton fired in the final kill of the set giving ASU the set win and brining the match to a 1-1 tie.
In the third set, Blauser got the squad rolling firing in a kill for the first point of the match. The two teams traded shots, but the Belles did not relinquish the lead throughout the set. Key points came from a pair of service aces dished out by Kelly Hasbrouck and Blauser. Lynn, Seaton and Sotello also added multiple kill shots to give ASU a 25-21 set win and the 2-1 lead in the match.
Though the Belles battled in the fourth set, they came up short (22-25) and allowed WTAMU to bring the match back to an even 2-2. With an ASU error the Lady Buffs took an early lead in the fifth set, but kills from Sotello and Morgan Seaton got the team right back in the mix. With West Texas A&M up again with a 5-4 lead, Sotello would drop in a pair of kills and was followed by a Lynn kill to once again give ASU the lead. After a pair of WTAMU errors Taylor Lee Seaton would come through with another kills shot to put Angelo State within two of taking the match. However, West Texas would not go down easily fighting back to bring the score to 14-13. Sotello would grant the Belles the 3-2 match win with one final kill.
The Belles continue its road tour with a match in Portales, New Mexico against Eastern New Mexico University on Saturday, October 31 at 1 p.m. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
