PORTALES, New Mexico – Angelo State volleyball added to its road wins with a sweep of Eastern New Mexico (27-25, 25-16, 25-18) Saturday afternoon.
With the win, the Belles improve to 24-5 overall,10-2 in the Lone Star Conference and 13-5 on the road. ASU is now on a five match win streak and all five wins have come on the road. The Greyhounds fell to 12-15, 4-10 LSC with the loss.
"We played well today and weathered some really tough serving from Eastern New Mexico," commented volleyball head coach Chuck Waddington on today's match. "Our pin attackers were especially effective with all three hitting over .300 for the match. Taylor Lee Seaton made an impact for us as well in the middle with some good blocking and strong play in transition."
Brianna Sotello once again led the Belles attack with 14 kills on the afternoon and a .333 clip. She is the team leader with 384 kills and sixth consecutive match with double –digit kill figures. This was also the sophomore's third consecutive match hitting over .300. The outside hitter also aided the defense with seven digs and a team high 5.0 total blocks for the match.
Two other Belles made significant contributions to the offense with over .300 clips. Mallory Blauser tallied 13 kills and a .313 attack percentage to give the junior 350 total kills on the year. She also added three total blocks to assist the defense. Abbie Lynn, who marked a .357 clip, dropped in seven kills and a block on defense.
Topping the 1,200 assist mark with 35 in today competition Maggi Jo Keffury brought her season total to 1,233. The senior's career total has now climbed to 2,686 assist as she approaches the sixth place mark in the ASU history books for career assist. She currently leads the LSC in the assist category as well. The setter's 15 digs today lead the Belles defense and also marked her 13th double-double of 2015.
Assisting the defense sisters Morgan and Taylor Lee Seaton each marked three total blocks. This tied a season high for Taylor Lee Seaton, while Morgan Seaton has tallied 12 blocks in the past four matches. Â
ASU got out of the gate slowly in the first set allowing ENMU to take a 7-3 lead, until Keffury set Lynn up to drop in a kill. This jump started an 8-4 rally for the Belles that would bring ASU even with Eastern New Mexico at 11. Angelo State would take its first lead of the set with a MacLeay service ace that put team up 12-11. Once again tied at 24-24, a Belle error put the Greyhounds within one of taking the set but Blauser fired in a kill to extend the set. Sifuentes served and ENMU ended the set on an attack error to give the Belles the set win at 27-25.
ASU carried the momentum into the second set with Sotello giving the Belles an early lead with a kill. With a 12-3 run that saw big kills from Taylor Lee Seaton, Sotello, Lynn, and Blauser, ASU took a 14-6 lead. ENMU tried to climb back into the set coming to within two a 16-14, but another sizable 9-2 run from the Belles would put the set away, 25-16.
Coming out of intermission traded 4-0 runs to tie the set until a kill from Lynn gave ASU a lead that they would not surrender. The Belles saw key offensive contributions in the set from Sotello, Blauser, Lynn and Taylor Lee Seaton. Both Taylor Lee Seaton and Morgan Seaton, along with Lynn and Sotello added critical blocks to help thwart the Greyhound attack. Sotello would put the finishing touches on the sweep with an ace that would give ASU the 25-18 third set win.
 The Belles travel to Denton, Texas, on Tuesday, November 3 to continue their conference schedule with a match against Texas Women's University at 7 p.m.
