SAN ANGELO, Texas – In front of the largest crowd of the season of 1,647 fans, the No.23 Angelo State volleyball team advanced to the semifinal round of the NCAA DII South Central Regional tournament with a 3-1 win over the Regis University Rangers on Thursday night at Stephens Arena in the Junell Center.
The Belles extended its undefeated home record to 13-0 and will face Colorado Mines on Friday, Dec. 4 at 7:30 p.m. ASU is now 32-5 overall this year and are currently riding a 13-match win streak. With the loss, Regis University was eliminated from the tournament and finished their season at 18-13. ASU is the sole surviving member of the Lone Star Conference after loses by Tarleton State and Texas Woman's University being eliminated in earlier matches on Thursday.
"We knew that Regis played steady coming into the tournament," said ASU head volleyball coach Chuck Waddington. "When it came down to it our team found a way to execute and I was really pleased to see the team show some grit in a match that we needed to do that."
Mallory Blauser led the way for the Belles attack firing in 23 kills on the night. This was the junior's eighth match topping the 20 kill mark. She also recorded an ace and an outstanding .352 clip for the match. Defensively the outside hitter added three digs and three blocks to the mix.
Recording her 19th double-double on the season, Maggi Jo Keffury tallied 49 assists and was one of four players to record double figures in digs with 19. The senior has now surpassed the 1,600 single season assists mark and has the second most assists in a single season. She is now only 99 away from holding the single season record for the Belles which is held by former Belle Jodi Cave with 1,700. After tonight's performance the setter has a career total of 3,050 assists.
Senior Katie MacLeay led the squad with a solid 22 digs on the night. The digs assisted the ASU defense in holding the Rangers to a .108 clip for the night. She added a service ace to her numbers and now has a career high 27 single season aces. Mallory Davidson also aided the defense adding 14 digs. She now has four matches with double-digit digs on the season.
Rounding out the four players with double figure digs is Brianna Sotello. The sophomore recorded a season high 21 digs while adding 14 kills to give the sophomore her 22nd double-double on the season. Her team high six blocks also marked a single game career high for the outside hitter.
The first set began with the two teams trading points. The Rangers were holding on to a three point lead, 12-9, when they would commit an untimely attack error and Morgan Seaton would drop in a kill to jump start an 8-1 run that would give ASU the 17-13 lead. Regis would attempt to regain the lead twice after this point, but up 24-21 Sotello put the set away with a kill.
Much like the first set the Rangers would drop in the first point. The teams battled with small runs being exchanged until the score was tied at six. Once again a Regis attack error would allow the Belles to embark on a sizable 9-1 run that would give them a 15-7 lead. Regis again would try to regain its composure but ASU did not falter, and with the Belles needing one point to close out the set, Blauser answered the call and rocketed one in to give the Belles a 2-0 set lead.
ASU then dropped a tough third set 25-20. This would be the gut check the team needed as they came out firing in the fourth set and taking a 5-0 lead. However, Regis did not turn over and fought back to tie the score at 8-8 and from this point on the set would be neck and neck for the remainder. With a 20-19 lead, Abbie Lynn blasted in one of her 10 kills on the night to set the Belles on the path to take the set and the match. Seaton would drop in the last two points that the Belles would need to award them the match win.
Angelo State's opponent tomorrow will Colorado School of Mines defeated LSC member TWU 3-1 in one of the three earlier matches of the day. This is the sixth time that the Belles have advanced to the semifinal round in eight total trips to the regional tournament. The winner of tomorrow evening's 7:30 p.m. match will face the winner of the 5 p.m. match between Colorado Mesa and Arkansas at Fort Smith in the regional final match. The final match will take place on Saturday, December 5 at 5 p.m.
"To win a regional, you have to win three straight matches in three straight days and I feel like we are prepared to do that," added Waddington. "Our athletes are in pretty good shape and we are ready to compete at that level. We will take care of our bodies tonight and be prepared for tomorrow. We are ready for day number two."
