SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State volleyball team opened its 2016 season with a pair of sweeps against South Dakota School of Mines (25-14, 25-19, 25-20) and St. Mary's (25-11, 25-20,25-19) during the opening day of Kathleen Brasfield Invitational.

The Belles have now come away victorious in their past six season openers as they move to 2-0 on the 2016 season. The squad completed its first match with a .336 clip against Hardrockers and finished with a .286 clip against the Rattlers in its second match of the day. With the loss in its opening match, the South Dakota School of Mines opened its season 0-1, while St. Mary's fell to 0-2 in its second match of the season.

"I felt like we started pretty fast in both matches today," commented ASU volleyball Head Coach Chuck Waddington. "We tapered off a little bit towards the end, which I'm not really pleased with because we've really got to stay crisp all the way through and focus on what we do on our side of the net. Part of that is we are trying to play a lot of our people, so you'll see some struggles like that, but we have the same expectations for all of our players, not just our starting six."

Outside hitters Mallory Blauser and Brianna Sotello led the Belles attack. Blauser leads the team having chalked up 23 total kills for an average of 3.83 kills per set on the day. She also helped solidify the defense with a team-second 18 total digs and a team-leading five blocks. Sotello, who fired in a team second 22 total kills and 18 total digs in both matches, recorded her first double-double of the season with a 10 kill and 13 dig showing against the Rattlers. The junior will head into tomorrow's matchups with a 3.67 kill per set average.

Right side Abbie Lynn, as well as middle blockers Morgan Seaton and Leiyona Young also turned in strong performances. Lynn recorded eight kills in each of Friday's matches and completed the day with a .368 attack percentage. In the second match of the day, Seaton was one of three to tally double-figure kills (10) against St. Mary's and totaled a team third three total blocks. With four total blocks in the first two matches Young is second on the team and is averaging one block per set.   

Distributing the rock for the Belles, freshman Meghan Parker took over leading ASU with 79 overall assists. This averages her a stellar 13.17 assists per set. The San Antonio native also led the team with five service aces.  

"I thought she played pretty well," added Waddington. "She came in and didn't show any of those freshman or first match jitters, and I think she's on her way to being a really good setter. Just like all of us, we've got a lot to learn, but she's ready to learn more and get even better."

Finally, sophomore Micheala Sifuentes capped the day with a team high 22 total digs for a 3.67 dig per set average. She also dropped in a pair of service aces for a share of second place on the team.

In its opening set of the 2016 season ASU came out strong against the South Dakota School of Mines marking a .516 clip. With a beautiful set up from Parker, Young blazed in the first kill of the season to give the Belles a 2-1 lead. The Hardrockers would put up a strong fight keeping the set tight, until ASU would go on a 12-2 tear that saw three service aces from Parker and three kills by Blauser. The Belles never looked back, closing out the set 25-14 to take the 1-0 lead.

SDSM started the second set strong taking an early 3-1 lead, but the Belles fought back to bring the score to an even four. The two teams would remain neck-and-neck until a pair of consecutive kills by Blauser and Young would help the team pull away to a 20-18 lead. After a pair of Hardrocker attack errors, Blauser and Young rocketed in two more kills to give ASU a 24-19 lead. Parker would put the nail in the coffin with her third ace of the match taking the Belles into the Break with a 2-0 set lead.

Freshman Tulani Titley got things rolling for Angelo State in the third set with a strong kill for the first point of the final set. Once again, tied at four the Belles went on a 10-2 run with Sotello, Lynn, and Seaton all dropping in kills. With the score 23-16 in favor of ASU, South Dakota School of Mines mounted a late rally to cut the Belles lead to just three. Consecutive kills by Titley and Lynn would put the match away and start the 2016 season off on the right foot for ASU volleyball.

Building off its earlier momentum Angelo State started its second match of the day, this one against St. Mary's, with another large 10-2 run.  The Belles would not look back as it did not allow the Rattlers to pull to within closer than nine points. This set saw Mallory Davidson, Sifuentes and Sotello record their first service aces of the season. With a 22-11 lead, Seaton, Parker and Sotello recorded the final points of the set to give ASU the set win.

Down 0-1 in the match, St. Mary's struck first in the second set and maintained a lead until a Sotello kill brought the match even at five. This was immediately followed with a kill from Seaton that gave the Belles their first lead of the set. ASU would hold on to its lead for the remainder of the second set. A successful attack from Lynn followed by a StMU attacking error would take the Belles into the intermission with a 25-20 second set win and a 2-0 match lead.            

In the final set of the day the two teams would trade blows with small runs until Blauser rocketed in a kill that jump started another 10-2 run. The Rattlers would not go down without a fight turning in a large 7-1 run of its own to bring the score to 22-19. Seaton halted the StMU scoring with chalking two consecutive kills. With the score 24-19 an attacking error by St. Mary's gave the Belles its second straight sweep of the day.

The Belles will return to the main court in the Stephens Arena at the Junell Center Saturday, September 3 at noon to take on St. Edward's and then at 6 p.m. to face Regis University. All matches played in the Stephens Arena will be broadcasted live and in high definition on RamTV (Suddenlink  6/106).