STEPHENVILLE, Texas – The No. 25 Angelo State volleyball team emerged from a five set battle against Tarleton State victorious (26-28, 26-24, 13-25, 25-21, 15-8) to claim the program's seventh Lone Star Conference Volleyball Tournament Championship on Saturday afternoon.

The Belles earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA South Central Regional tournament with their 12 straight win and improved to 31-5 overall this year. Prior to Saturday's victory, ASU had made six consecutive trips to the LSC Tournament Championship but had not won the tournament. Along with improving to 6-2 at neutral sites the Belles earned a 2-1 series lead over TSU this season. The TexAnns fell to 27-6 with the loss.

"We expected a battle," ASU head volleyball coach Chuck Waddington said. "Tarleton State is one of the most talented teams in the country and not just in our region or our conference. We knew it was going to be a dog fight and I like the way we responded after we got beat in the third set. We came out really strong in the fourth, set the tone and held our own during that set. I can't even tell you how proud I am of these girls, because it would have been easy to lay down. "[Wisdom Gym] was a zoo and it was electric and for us to respond the way they did was a true testament to how mentally tough the girls are and how much they really wanted it."

With the match tied at two, the two teams would enter the 15 point deciding fifth set. As in the fourth set ASU would hop out to an early 2-0 lead. However, Tarleton State fought back to take its first lead since the third set at 3-2. Morgan Seaton sparked a 6-1 run with two kills that gave ASU an 8-4 advantage. Once again the TexAnns would attempt to mount a comeback cutting the deficit to 8-6 but Lynn had other ideas. The sophomore fired in a kill to spark a 6-1 run from ASU that put them on the brink of the program's first tournament championship title since 1992. After TSU scored cut it to 14-8, Keffury set Blauser on the outside and Blauser hammered home the championship point.

Receiving MVP honors for the tournament, Maggi Jo Keffury tallied 55 assists on the night and 151 assists for the tournament. She surpassed 1,500 season assists and 3,000 career assists with totals of 1552 and 3001, respecitvely. She assisted the defense with 15 digs for her ninth straight double-double and pushed her season total to 18^th double-doubles.

Leading the offense for the Belles were all-tournament selections Mallory Blauser and Brianna Sotello. Blauser ended the night with a team high 19 kills and a .213 clip. She totaled 69 kills for the LSC Championship and added three blocks and five digs to the mix. Sotello contributed 15 kills against the TexAnns and finished the championship with a total of 44. Her 15 digs on the night gave her a team leading 21 double-doubles on the year.

Abbie Lynn and Taylor Lee Seaton completed the offense leaders for Angelo State. Lynn recorded her best match of the tournament with 10 kills and four blocks on the night. The sophmore was efficient with a .280 hitting percentage. Taylor Lee Seaton tied her season high for the third time with seven kills and hit .353.

Katie MacLeay anchored the Belles defense with 19 digs for her seventh consecutive match with double figure digs. Morgan Seaton led the team with a season high nine blocks, while freshman Micheala Sifuentes rounded out the group with 11 total digs.         

Having dropped the first set 26-28, the Belles began the second set slow allowing the TexAnns to take a 10-5 lead.  Key kills from Blauser, Sotello and Taylor Lee Seaton, as well as a block from Morgan Seaton and Blauser would bring the two teams back to an even 16-16. After exchanging short runs, Sotello and Taylor Lee Seaton combined for a block that would put the Belles ahead 25-24. Mallory Davidson would then take to the service line and rocket in the sole Belle service ace of the night to close out the set 26-24 and tie the match at one.      

TSU would answer dominating the third set, 25-13, to give them the 2-1 match lead. It was at this point that ASU would come out of the break and for the first time in the match take the initial lead that they would not lose. After trading points, the four point ASU lead would be cut to one with a score of 13-12. Lynn fired in a kill followed by a big block from Morgan Seaton and Sotello would jump start the offense on a 5-2 run that would regain the four point lead for the Belles at 18-14.  Blauser closed out the set with a point to tie the match at two and force the deciding fifth set. 

Having received the automatic bid to the NCAA Regional Tournament, ASU will return to the court after the Thanksgiving break. Currently ranked first in the region, the Belles will find out where they will play on Monday, November 23 at 6:30 p.m.