SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State volleyball team had a strong showing to start the 2018 season on Friday, winning two games in the Kathleen Brasfield Invitational.
The first win for the Belles (2-0) came over St. Mary's 3-2 (25-13, 21-25, 25-14, 24-26, 15-10) with a 3-0 sweep of New Mexico Highlands (25-10, 25-15, 25-11) to wrap up the day.
"It's nice to be tested early," Angelo State head volleyball coach Chuck Waddington said. "St. Mary's is a really good team and plays a really disciplined style of defense, so I was glad to see my team stay in and fight through that game. And then we had opportunities for hard-working players against New Mexico Highlands and those kids really responded well too, which was exciting to see."
Set one of day one started well enough for ASU, with the Belles taking four straight points to start the match, including an ace from Meghan Parker and a kill from Sundara Chinn.
Chinn got off to a hot start in her junior season, setting a new career high with 28 digs against St. Mary's. She added in 12 kills for a double-double.
The Rattlers finally got on the board for the fifth point of the match, but ASU quickly returned with another run of five points, capped off by a kill from senior Audrey Fragniere.
Fragniere, who transferred to ASU for her final collegiate season, had a good start to her career with the Belles, putting up 11 kills in the match against St. Mary's and adding in eight in the nightcap against NMHU.
The widest the lead got for the Belles in the opening set was 11, after yet another five-point run put them up 18-7 and they closed out the match on one of Baleigh Allen's 12 kills.
Set two did not go as well as the first, as Angelo State jumped out to an early lead again, but fell behind at 11-10. The Belles kept the match close until a five-run from the Rattlers put them up 23-18 and in position to close out the set.
Flipping sides again, the Belles got back on track in the third set, building an earlier 6-3 lead and holding it the entire set.
ASU closed out the set strong as well, winning 9 of the last 10 points, including the last four straight with freshman Sophia Berg at the service line.
After dropping the fourth set, the Belles came out on fire looking to win the match in the decisive fifth set. A pair of kills from Fragniere opened the match and by the time the Rattlers finally got a point, ASU had already scored six times.
St. Mary's fought back to within one at 8-7, but Angelo State scored five of the final seven points in the match to secure the first victory of the year.
In the second match of the day, the Belles powered past the Cowgirls by way of some stifling defense. New Mexico Highlands hit -.80 for the entire match in the nightcap, only posting a positive hitting percentage in the second set of the match.
An 8-1 run early in the first set put Angelo State in the driver's seat early on, and they did not stop there, at one point rattling off nine straight points to go up 23-8. The Cowgirls earned two more points before Berg ended the opening set with a kill.
The second set went just as well as the first, with the Belles getting up by double digits after a kill by Anna Graham, who hit an efficient .625 with five kills in the match.
NMHU battled back more in the second set than they had in the first, but ASU was able to close out the second set still holding a 10-point lead.
In the third and final set, Waddington worked in a number of his newcomers and freshmen, at one point putting four first-year players on the court at the same time.
The set started with six straight points and 10 of the first 11 going to the Belles, capped off by a kill from freshman Brianna Hudson.
ASU held the 10-point lead for nearly all of the rest of the match, closing out the win with a 6-1 run for a perfect 2-0 start to the season.
The Belles will play twice more this weekend as they finish up the Kathleen Brasfield ASU Invitational, taking on East Central at noon before facing Arkansas Fort Smith at 6 p.m. in the Stephens Arena at the Junell Center.
