SAN ANGELO – No.5 Angelo State volleyball continues its road tour as it opens Lone Star Conference play this weekend against Texas A&M -Commerce and Texas Woman's.

ASU, which is sporting an 8-1 record thus far, is coming off an excellent showing and a third place finish at the Colorado Premier Tournament. The Belles, which recently climbed to No.5 in the national rankings, a program first,  have swept every opponent to date with the exception of No. 2 Concordia - St. Paul in Denver, Colorado.  Angelo State enters conference play with a .267 attack percentage (No. 15 nationally) and averaging 15.0 kills per set (No. 10 nationally) as a team.  Defensively, ASU has averaged 17.5 digs per set and recorded 2.1 blocks per set. These numbers place the Belles tops in the conference in each of the categories.

The Belles first stop of the weekend will come on Friday, September 15, at 6 p.m. against the Lions. Sitting at 4-5, TAMUC will be seeking to build off its last match, a home victory over Dallas Baptist. The lions will likely depend on its offense to attempt to match the Belles potent attack, as it sits just behind ASU in the LSC with an average of 12.79 kills per set.

Angelo State will then head northwest to Denton, Texas where it will take on a 2-6 Pioneer squad on Saturday, September 16 at 2 p.m. TWU will also be looking to begin a win streak as it is coming off a 3-1 win over Colorado Christian University in Lubbock, Texas. The Belles swept CCU in back-to-back matches during the Kathleen Brasfield Invitational, which was held in the Stephens Arena at the Junell Center.  

ASU's offense will be ready to build off its performance in Colorado with Brianna Sotello, Sundara Chinn, and Anna Graham leading the Belles on the attack. Sotello, who was selected to the Colorado Premier Tournament all-tournament team, heads the group with a 4.04 kill per set average and a .287 clip for the season. The senior is also second on the team with 71 digs on the year.   

Chinn, who was chosen as the LSC Offensive Player of the Week, was also selected to the Colorado Premier Tournament all-tournament team and was a major role player in the Belles offensive onslaught last week. The newcomer has established herself as a major asset to the ASU attack. The right side hitter tallied 55 total kills over the week averaging her 3.44 kills per set and a .301 clip. She set a pair of career highs firing in 19 kills and digging five balls against No. 2 ranked Concordia-St. Paul. Defensively, she also recorded a team second 13 total blocks for the week.

Rounding out the group, Graham sits on top of the team's stats sheet with a .373 attack percentage (at least 50 percent of sets played) for the year. With a 2.48 kill per set average she has dropped in 67 total kills for the year. The sophomore has also made great contributions to the team's defense with 28 total blocks, a team second.  

Anchoring the squad defense, ASU will look to Morgan Seaton and Micheala Sifuentes. Securing the defensive player of the week, Seaton, headed ASU with 18 total blocks last week. This included a season high eight-block performance against MSU Denver on day one of the Colorado Premier Tournament.  In addition, she added 15 total digs to her numbers from the middle blocker position, a season high six of those coming in the match against Tarleton. The Big Spring native also assisted the offensive attack with three service aces and 26 kills for the week, averaging 1.62 kills per set.  Sifuentes has been the team leader in digs this season averaging a stellar 5.50 digs per set. The junior recently set a season high with 23 digs against Adam's State in Alamosa, Colorado.

Finally, setting up the Belles attack and working in a 6-2 offense, Meghan Parker earned the setter of the week. She served up a Belles offense that hit .268 for the week against some of the nation's top teams. Totaling 141 assists for the week at a rate of 8.81 assists per set, the sophomore set a season high 43 assists against No.2 Concordia - St. Paul. This performance also included 11 digs, which marked her first double-double of the season.  The setter also turned in four aces for the week in sweeps of Adams State, Florida Southern, MSU Denver, and Tarleton State.

Adding depth to the Belles roster will be Bailey Drum, Eadara Filea and Abbie Lynn. Drum has turned in great numbers from the outside hitter position this season. The redshirt freshman is coming off a solid road trip with the team where she tallied 35 total kills with a career high 10 against Tarleton State. In addition, she has also added 12 total blocks to her number for the season. Files will help set the rock in the Belles 6-2 offense, as she is averaging a team second 4.25 assists per set. Completing the bunch, senior leader Abbie Lynn will be a force from the right side on both offense and defense. She is supporting a 1.61 kill preset average and 12 total blocks thus far.