STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Thursday afternoon Angelo State volleyball swept West Texas A&M (25-16, 25-20, 25-16) granting the Belles the right to advance to the semi-final round of the Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championship.
With the win the Belles improve their winning streak to 10 matches and have now compiled 19 sweeps this season. ASU is now 29-5 overall on the season and has improved its neutral site record to 5-2. Thursday's sweep over the Lady Buffs is the second one of the 2015 season. Angelo State has now claimed three consecutive victories in a single season against rivals West Texas A&M for the first time in program history. The Lady Buffs slid to 16-17 overall.
"We played well today," said ASU Volleyball Head Coach Chuck Waddington. "Our pin players were effective in transition and serve receive. Defensively, we gave ourselves a lot of good chances to score."
Leading the Belles attack, Mallory Blauser tallied a team leading 22 kills averaging her and a phenomenal 7.33 kill per set average. The junior also recorded a .500 clip for the match. She aided the defense with seven digs and tied Morgan Seaton with a team leading three blocks.
Outside hitter Brianna Sotello marked her 19th double-double of the year with 12 kills and 10 digs. Her kill total was second on the team for the day. The sophomore also added two service aces to the mix and finished the match with a .258 hitting percentage. Abbie Lynn and Morgan Seaton contributed seven kills each to the offensive efforts and tied for the third highest kill total on the team.
LSC Setter of the Year, Maggi Jo Keffury took over the sixth spot for career assists in the ASU history books with a 45 assist performance in today match. The senior now has 2,895 career assist to her name. Her 10 digs on the afternoon awarded her a 16th double- double for the 2015 season.
Anchoring the defense for Angelo State, Katie MacLeay led with a team leading 13 digs. The senior now has 637 dig on the year. She also tallied three assist and an ace during the match. Morgan Seaton also aided the Belles defensive efforts with three blocks and two digs.
First set tied at 8-8, a Blauser kill jump started a 10-2 run that saw key kills from Lynn and Morgan Seaton. Despite two attempts to get back into the driver seat the Belles Taylor Lee Seaton and Sotello would get the team back on track each firing a kill. Taylor Lee Seaton would close out the set with another kill set up by Keffury that would give ASU the 25-16 first set win.
The next set would prove to be more difficult for Angelo State. The two squads would exchange points until, down 12-16, Blauser would drop in a monster kill that would start the Belles on a comeback. ASU would engineer a 12-4 run to give the Belles the 25-20 second set victory and the 2-0 set lead. The final run included seven total Blauser kills, a Morgan Seaton and Blauser block, and was closed out with a pair of kills from Sotello.
Feeding off the momentum of the second set comeback the Belles kicked off the final set with a 10-1 run which included a MacLeay service ace and a key kill from Keffury. ASU would not relinquish the lead and thwarted several Lady Buffs attempts to construct comeback runs. With a 20-15 lead a Lynn kill, service aces from Davidson and Sotello , and a final kill from Blauser would place the match in the books for the Belles with a win.
ASU will advance to take on the Texas Woman's Pioneers on Friday, November 20 at 5 p.m. This match can be viewed for free at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/lonestar/portal.htm?eventId=252746&streamType=video .
