SAN ANGELO – The No. 16 Angelo State volleyball team downed Cameron in four sets (25-9, 25-15, 21-25, 25-21) in the Stephens Arena at the Junell Center on Saturday afternoon.
With Saturday afternoon's victory, the Belles improved to 13-4, 5-3 LSC on the season. The ASU attack recorded a .253 team hitting percentage and set a season high firing in 12 team aces. Angelo State had four players, Anna Graham (18), Brianna Sotello (15), Morgan Seaton (11) and Ali Davison (11), drop in double-digit kills, which marked career highs for both Graham and Davison. Also assisting the Belles' defense, both Davison (17) and Sotello (14) turned in double-figure digs for the match earning them both double-doubles on the day. With the loss the Aggies slide to 5-12 overall and 2-7 in the LSC.
"We always want to win especially on our home court," commented ASU Head Volleyball Coach Chuck Waddington. "We kind of dropped our guard a little bit in the third set and we had to get back to what we were trying to do and be aggressive in the fourth set. We stuttered a bit at the start of the fourth and made some errors but got the momentum back on our side, build a gap in the score and put the match away."
The Belles opened the match with a robust 13-2 run that included kills from Sotello, Graham, and Seaton. The run also saw aces from Meghan Parker, Seaton and Sotello, who led the team with a total of four for the match. A Belle error halted the assault, but Parker would set up Davison for a quick kill to get the team back into a groove. Parker would go on to ink a season high 57 assists. The Belles defense, which was led by Micheala Sifuentes with 18 digs, would limit the Aggies to just nine points in the set. A Sotello kill would secure the set win for ASU as the offense came away with a .588 clip.
Building off its previous set, Angelo State came out of the gate firing on all cylinders as it put up six quick points to take a 6-1 led. The Aggies would rally back and close the gap to just a single point with 8-7 on the board. However, Davison would once again got the Belles back on track with a timely kill. CU added seven more points taking the score to 22-14. Davison then added another two kills along with an ace from Bailey Mulder, who also had a career night with 14 digs, to take the set. ASU would head into the break with a 2-0 set lead.
Cameron came out of intermission and took an immediate lead as it embarked on a 6-2 run -- it's lengthiest of the afternoon. The Belles would be unable to recover despite several attempts to piece together points. The Aggies would continue to build momentum and eventually take the set.
In the fourth set, Cameron once again came out looking to set the pace as it put up the first point, but a Graham kill quickly suggested otherwise. The two squads would exchange points until, trailing 14-11, the Belles rattled of a 5-0 run headed by kills from Graham, Sotello, Seaton and Bailey Drum, to catch back up. With the score sitting at 19-17 in favor of CU, Angelo State brought in Tulani Titley, who teamed up with Graham and Drum to hammer down kill that pushed the Belles back in front for the final time. The Match would end on two consecutive Aggies errors, and the Belles would take a trip to victory lane for the second time this weekend.
The Belles hit the road to New Mexico, where it will face both Western and Eastern New Mexico on Friday, October 13 and Saturday, October 14 respectively.
