SAN ANTONIO – Shelbi Goode led Angelo State with 13 kills and added nine digs to help No. 15 Angelo State to a season-opening 3-0 (25-20, 25-14, 25-7) sweep over Southeastern Oklahoma on Friday at Greehey Arena.

“We just wanted to come out and play our game,” Goode said. “We just wanted to play our best and the rest would take care of itself. I think we came in really confident and prepared. We all had our minds right and it worked out.”  

The Belles (1-0) return to action at 7 p.m. tonight against St. Mary's which opened the Rattler/Hilltopper Classic this morning with a 3-0 win over Midwestern State.

Shelby Wilt paced the Belles with 18 digs, while Alex Woolsey added 39 assists and Chelsea Gibson 11 kills to start their senior seasons. Emily Booth contributed six kills with Kaelen Valdez putting together a six dig, five kill match.

Angelo State led the entire second set and only saw three lead changes in the first set and two in the third.  

“We really got better and better as the games went on,” Wilt said. “Last year it seemed like it took us to the end of the season before we really started playing the whole way through. It is a really good sign that we are fixing our mistakes early and are not messing around. Our execution was really good.”

“What I like about the team we played is that they scrapped hard,” added ASU head coach Chuck Waddington who reached 90 wins in his career with the victory. “Our first couple of swings were really big and they handled them. We had to fight for points early on and I think our team rose to the occasion. Every set we played we got better. That's what you want to see as a coach as you progress through a match.”

After tonight's match, the Belles will play two more matches in the Hilltopper/Ratttler Classic on Saturday. The team will play Southwestern Oklahoma at 1 p.m. and St. Edward's at 7 p.m. with the matches being hosted on the St. Edward's campus in Austin.