SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State volleyball team closed out the Kathleen Brasfield Invitational with its third and fourth sweeps of the season, which came over Colorado Christian (25-23, 25-23, 25-11) and New Mexico Highlands (25-14, 25-18,25-23),Saturday.

With the pair of wins, the Belles now sit at 4-0 on the season. ASU has also now defended the home court in 24 consecutive matches.  Three Belles earned All-Tournement honors, Brianna Sotello (MVP), Sundara Chinn and Micheala Sifuentes. With the losses CCU fell to 1-2 in the season and NMHU to 2-2.      

"We wanted to come out a little crisper than we did yesterday," commented Head ASU Volleyball Coach Chuck Waddington. "Set one turned out to be opposite of that and we made some errors. We pulled it out in set one, but in sets two and three we got a lot cleaner. Then we came out tonight and played pretty steady. I thought our setters did a good job at moving the ball around and not making us predictable. We didn't have one kids carry the loads for us, but we had two or three that scored consistently for us.

Sotello lead the team with a season-high 17 kills in match one and followed with another 10 later on in the day. The senior captain also marked an outstanding .571 clip against CCU during the process. With 11 digs in the second match the senior recorded the team's first double –double of the season. Once again, Chinn checked in with a team second nine kills in the first match and 10 kills in the second. The sophomore transfer also marked a .471 attack percentage against the Cougars.

Leading the defense, Sifuentes dug a season-high 17 balls and dropped in four aces in the first match. She later followed it up checking another season mark with 21 digs against New Mexico Highlands. Morgan Seaton and Anna Graham both lead the Belles along the net. Graham totaled seven total blocks on the day and Seaton close behind with five.

Sophomore setter Meghan Parker started the day with a 20-assist performance and later topped that with 28 in the day's second match. She also dropped in a season high seven aces against the Cowgirls for a total of nine for the day.

Colorado Christian jumped out to an early 8-4 lead over the Belles in the first set of the first match before Abbie Lynn got ASU headed in the right direction as she kicked off a five-point rally to take over the lead.  The run also saw the first of four aces from Sifuentes. The two teams would continue to exchanges small runs until tied at 22 a pair of Sotello kills along with another Sifuentes aces and a Cougar service error would give the Belles the 1-0 advantage.

ASU would continue the momentum in the second set as it scored the first two points, which included a Parker service ace.  However, CCU would place some quick points on the board and bring to set to an even nine. As in the previous set the two teams would duke it out exchanging blows, eventually forcing the set into extra points. Tied at 23, Chinn rocketed in a kill and Sifuentes would tally yet another aces to give Angelo State a 2-0 lead in the match.

The teams would continue the point exchange out of the break, until the game tied at tied at five when the Belles would embark on a 14-2 run to take full control of the set.  With 19-7 on the board the cougars would try to stifle the Angelo State attack adding four points to their total but three straight CCU errors would place the win into the books for the Belles. This match would see the first point of the season for sophomore Tulani Titley and a pair of digs from sophomore Ali Davison, also her first of the season.  

In the final match of the invitational, ASU came out strong as opened the first set by placing six straight points on the board. These were credited to Seaton, Sotello, Chinn and a Parker ace. The Cowgirls would close to within two points, 12-10, before another Seaton kill pulled the Belles back away. With score sitting at 18-13, Angelo State closed out the set with another large 7-1 run.

Set two was much of the same with the Belles leading throughout. The Cowgirls kept it close but were never able to piece together a run and pull in font. This set saw big kills from Lynn and Bailey Drum, as well as timely blocks from Graham, Sotello and Chinn.

In the final set of the day, ASU would work up a 16-7 lead before NMHU battle back with a mid-set 8-3 run. The Cowgirls would continue to chip away pulling to within one, 24-23. After an already stellar day Graham would add another kill to her 13 kill day and secured the sweep for the Belles.

Angelo State will hit the road for a week-long trip to Colorado as it will take on Adams State on Wednesday, September 6 at 2 p.m. (CST) before heading to Denver for the Colorado Premier Tournament. ASU will start the tournament on Friday, September 8 with Florida Sothern at 12 p.m. (CST) and then will face Metropolitan State at 3:30 p.m. (CST).