SAN ANGELO, Texas – The No. 23 Angelo State volleyball team advanced to the final match of the NCAA Division II South Central Regional earning a five set win (25-17, 18-25, 25-17, 24-26, 15-9) over the Colorado School of Mines in the Stephens Arena at the Junell Center on Friday night.
Coming off a tough loss in the fourth set and facing possible elimination, the Belles opened up the pivotal fifth set with fire as Morgan Seaton hit a laser in for the first kill of the set. The kill kicked off a 6-1 run that saw a pair of kills from Mallory Blauser and another from Morgan Seaton. Despite the Orediggers best efforts, ASU would not relinquish the lead. It was 14-9 when Maggi Jo Keffury lined up Blauser who would rocket in the final kill that would send the team to the final.
It marks the third time in program history that the Belles have advanced to the final match of the South Central Regional tournament. The Belles improved to 33-5 on the season and have done an excellent job protecting the home court as it maintained its undefeated 14-0 record a Stephens Arena in the Junell Center. The loss closed out the CSM season with a 27-6 record.
"I felt like we played at a pretty high level," ASU head volleyball coach Chuck Waddington said. "Colorado Mines gets all the credit in the fourth set for making some ridiculous plays to make it happen. We responded in the fifth set. Those things can go one of two ways, you feel like you have it wrapped up and I'm sure we all did but we didn't feel sorry for ourselves. We came out, executed and we got on a roll early. We took big swings in transition and that is exactly what we talk about. I'm really proud of my team for executing and coming off something that could have been damaging to us mentally. All the props go to this team."
Blauser led the offense with 18 kills and a stellar .283 hitting percentage. This marked the junior's fifth consecutive match with at least 18 kills and her 27th match with double- digit kills. On the defensive side of the ball she tallied a career single match high of six total blocks.
For the sixth match in a row, Brianna Sotello earned a double-double which marked her team leading 23rd of the season. She dropped in 17 kills and added 13 digs to the Belles defensive efforts. The outside hitter also recorded a .200 clip and two blocks.
Chalking up 13 kills and a phenomenal .391 clip, Abbie Lynn recorded one of her best matches of the season. The right side hitter has now tallied over a .300 clip and double figure kills in both regional tournament matches. She added two blocks and three digs to her defensive numbers.
Setting the ball for the Belles, Keffury accrued 48 assists for the match. This placed the senior only 52 assists away from breaking the single season assist record of 1,700 which was marked by Jodi Cave in 1992. She also racked up 16 digs on the night. Keffury now has 20 double-doubles for the season. She is second on the squad in the double-double category.
Katie MacLeay was a rock for the ASU defense with 19 digs which aided the Belles in holding CSM to a .192 clip for the match. She has now marked nine straight matched with double-figure digs. Offensively, the senior's season high three service aces crossed her over the 30 aces threshold this evening.
Both Taylor Lee Seaton and Mallory Davidson had excellent defensive night for Angelo State. Taylor Lee Seaton tallied a season high five blocks and recorded over four blocks in the past three matches. Davidson has tallied double-digit digs in three of the five post-season matches this year adding 14 tonight. She also dropped in a two service aces.
The Belles got off on the right foot with a 12-5 lead in the first set. This included a lengthy 9-1 run which was jump started by a Morgan Seaton kill. CSM would then close the gap to 22-16, but three straight errors would award the Belles the first wet win and the 1-0 lead in the match. The second set would prove not to be as easy for ASU as the Orediggers would battle to take the win and tie up the match at one set each.
CSM would then use the momentum to keep the third set close until tied at five Davidson rocketed an ace in to start the 8-2 run that would place the score at 13-7. Mines fought its way back to within three points at 18-15 when consecutive points from Lynn and Davidson would jump start a final 7-2 run that culminated with a Blauser kill and the Belles retaking the match lead 2-1. Despite being up by six at in the fourth set ASU would allow Mines to tie the match with the 26-24 set four win. This would take the teams into the crucial fifth set to break the tie.
Angelo State will take to it home court in the Junell Center for the final time with a championship on the line on Saturday,December 6 at 5 p.m. against University of Arkansas- Fort Smith. This match will not only decide the South Central Regional Champion but also which of the two teams will advance to the NCAA DII Elite Eight in Tampa, Florida. UASF earned a semi-final win by enduring a five set marathon with Colorado Mesa. Down 2-0 to Colorado Mesa the Lady Lions rallied for three consecutive sets to take the win and improve to 28-3 on the season. The Belles won their only meeting with the Lady Lions, in a five set barn burner at the beginning of its 2013 season.
