STEPHENVILLE, Texas – The No. 25 Angelo State volleyball team advances to the Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championship finals for the sixth straight year with the 3-1 defeat of Texas Woman's on Friday night.
The victory in the semi-finals pushed the Belles to 30-5 on the season and 6-2 when playing in a neutral site. This is the 13th time in ASU history that the Belles have advanced to the LSC Volleyball Championship final round with a record of 6-6 in the finals. ASU will face the Tarleton State Texanns to decide the LSC Volleyball Championship winner. The Belles have split two matches with Taexanns this season with each team taking a victory infornt of its home crowd. This will also mark the second consecutive year that ASU will face the TSU in the LSC Volleyball Championship finals. The Texas Woman's university Pioneers fell to 24-7 with loss.
"It was a great match between two really good teams," said ASU Head Volleyball Coach Chuck Waddington. "TWU was not backing down from the challenge and gave us everything we could handle. What I liked the most was that my kids responded to that challenge and fought for the win."
Once again outside hitter Mallory Blauser dominated the offensive numbers firing in a career second and season high 28 kills on the night. This marked the second consecutive match with double figure kills for Blauser. Â She has now regained sole possession of first on the Belles total kills list with 469 on the season. The junior also led the team with three blocks.
Brianna Sotello added her 20th double-double on the year dropping in 17 kills and tallying 16 digs. She is currently second on the squad in both kills (458) and digs (416) on the year. The sophomore added two blocks and two assist to her total numbers.
Abbie Lynn rounded out the Belles offensive attack with nine kills. This places the right side hitter third on the team with 295 kills this season. Lynn also contributed two blocks and two assists to the Belles efforts.
Dishing out the ball for ASU, Maggi Jo Keffury recorded 51 assists in the match bringing her to just three assists shy of the 1500 mark for the season with 1497. Her performance also moves her to a career total 2,946 assist. The senior setter also marked 11 digs on the afternoon which gave her a 17th double-double on the season.
The Angelo State defense saw a multitude of contributors that marked double digit digs for the match. Team dig leader, Katie MacLeay led the group with 18 digs against TWU. She also maintained her position as team leader with the most service aces dropping in two from the line accompanied by five assists. Mallory Davidson Marked a season high in digs with 15. The freshman tied for the match high in service aces firing in two. Fellow freshman Micheala Sifuentes completed the defensive leaders tallying 14 digs. Â
ASU came out firing on all cylinders kicking off the first set with a 10-4 run which included a pair of kills form Blauser and big block in which Blauser was assisted by Morgan Seaton. With ASU leading by a score of 20-16 Blauser would once again take charge and drop in two kills and another combination block with Morgan Seaton to give the Belles the 1-0 set lead.  Â
Blauser would carry the momentum into the second set rocketing in a kill for the first point of the set. However, TWU would not back down and rallied to take the lead back. Down 8-4, Sotello fired a run starting kill that allowed the Belles to construct a 7-1 run to regain the lead. Needing two points to close out the set, Sotello and Taylor Lee Seaton would answer the call with a pair of back-to-back kills. The Belles entered intermission with a second set score of 25-22 and up 2-0 in the match.
Despite several ASU runs TWU led for the majority of the third set and would take it with a score of 22-25. This would not hinder the Belles as they started the final set on a 5-1 tear that saw a pair of Blauser kills, a MacLeay ace and another Blauser, Morgan Seaton combination block. After trading several points TWU engineered a 7-1 run of its own to take the lead 19-15. ASU would answer with Blauser lining up seven consecutive points to bring the Belles back to even with the Pioneers at 24-24. A Keffury ace and a Lynn kill would propel ASU to a 26-24 set four victory and advanced the Belles into the final.
"Being down late in the fourth set, we stayed calm and made plays. I am always challenging my players to make a play in key moments and we definitely rose to the challenge," commented Waddington on the teams fourth set effort.
The Belles will take on Tarleton State in the final match of the LSC Volleyball Championship on Saturday, November 21 at 3 p.m. The final match will be live streamed for free at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/lonestar/portal.htm?eventId=252748&streamType=video .   Â
