SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State volleyball team continued to remain undefeated in Lone Star Conference play with a sweep of Texas A&M – Commerce (25-23, 25-19, 25-17) on Saturday afternoon.
The Belles improved to 11-1 overall and 2-0 in the LSC with Saturday's win. The ASU defensive efforts once again held the opponent to a low .072 attack percentage. While the team's offense recorded a .243 clip in its second straight sweep of the week. With the loss, the Lions fell to 5-6 overall and 0-2 in the conference.
''We played solid throughout and came up with the win, which was good for us,'' commented ASU Head Coach Chuck Waddington. "I like that they can stay calm in those kind of crazy situations where a team make a run and they don't get flustered. They stayed pretty composed and made runs of our own to keep the momentum on our side."
Mallory Blauser once again led the Belles attack leading the team with 14 kills for the match. This marked her ninth straight match with double-figure kills. The senior also led the squad from the service line with four service aces. Defensively, she turned in nine digs and a pair of blocks for the afternoon.
Junior Brianna Sotello recorded a team second nine kills for the afternoon. However, it was her play on defense that shined as she led the Belles with 14 digs and two blocks. Sotello has now recorded nine matches with double-figure digs and now leads the team with 149 total digs in 2016.
Dealing the ball for ASU, freshman Meghan parker added 33 total assists to her numbers and continues to lead the squad with 475 on the year. She also dropped in an ace to retain her team lead with a total of 18.
Libero Brooke Robertson and middle blocker Tulani Titley held down the Belles defense against the Lions. Robertson recorded her second straight match with double-digit digs calking up 13 for the day. Titley led ASU along the net with three total blocks, which gives the freshman a grand total of 15 on the season.
Finally, Morgan Seaton and Abbie Lynn assisted the Belles offensive efforts, as they each recorded six kills. Seaton also added a pair of aces from the service line and a block on defense.
The Belles came out firing as they kicked off the first set with a 7-1 run and Titley scoring the first point of the match. The Lions fought back bring the score to an even eight, when a key kill from Sotello brought the TAMUC run to a halt. With the score tied at 11, an attack error followed by a Titley and Blauser block set ASU off on a 8-0 run. Texas A&M – Commerce would once again crawl back into the set cutting the Belles lead to just one, with the score 24-23. A big kill from Sotello would put the set in the bag for ASU and give it the 1-0 lead.
Middle blocker Leiyona Young got the ball rolling for the Belles firing in the first point of the second set. The two teams would battle exchanging points and the lead twice before kills from Lynn and Sotello placed the Belles back out in front for the final time. With the score 16-15, the Belles put together a 7-2 run that saw big hits from Blauser, Young and a service ace from Seaton. Blauser then added two of the final four points to give ASU the 2-0 set lead heading into the break.
Texas A&M – Commerce dropped in the first three points of the third set, but the Belles would rally scoring six straight to take over the lead. The two teams would once against trade points with the Lions pulling back in to within a single point several times. With the Belles leading 10-9, a timely kill from Titley followed by another Blauser, Titley combination block allowed ASU to pull away and not look back. A pair of kill by Seaton with a kill by Sotello and a Mallory Davidson aces pushed the score to 20-12 in favor of ASU. The Lions would not be able to close the gap to fewer than seven points, and with the score sitting at 24-17 an attack error by TAMUC would secure the sweep for the Belles.
Angelo State hits the road on Tuesday, September 20 for its first match-up of the season with Tarleton State at 7 p.m. The TexAnns will be entering the match with a 9-1 record overall and a 2-0 record in the Lone Star Conference.
