CANYON – Angelo State and Cameron will meet in the Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championship semifinals at 5 p.m. on Friday at the WTAMU Fieldhouse. The Belles (20-7) advanced to the second round of the tournament with a four-set win over Eastern New Mexico, while the Aggies (15-14) upset second-seeded Texas Woman's in five sets on Thursday.

"Cameron runs a very fast offense," ASU head coach Chuck Waddington said. "We have to work hard to get them out of system. Our blocking has to be very disciplined against their pin attackers. I liked our balanced offense against Eastern. We also played well in key situations."

ASU is 2-0 against the Aggies this season with a pair of sweeps and owns an 11-match winning streak over CU and a 26-11 all-time historical advantage. The Belles will be playing in the semifinals for the sixth straight season and will be looking to advance to the conference tournament finals for the fifth straight season.  

The two programs are playing in the tournament for the second time in history and the first since a 2004 semifinal matchup which the Aggies took in four sets in the tournament played in Lawton. Cameron is coached by Qi Wang who was an assistant for the Belles before orchestrating a turnaround season for the Aggies who are in the postseason for the first time since 2011 and have already won eight more matches than all of last season when the team went 7-23.

The ASU-CU winner will advance to the LSC Championship finals which will be played at 5 p.m. on Saturday. Tarleton State and West Texas A&M are playing in Friday's other semifinal match which will set up Saturday's final. ASU and WT have met in the past four conference tournament finals and the last two NCAA Division II South Central Championship finals.

BELLE ROSTER REPORT
Mallory Blauser, Abbie Lynn and Brianna Sotello come into the conference tournament leading the Belles offensive attack. Lynn is coming off a career-high 21 kills against ENMU on Thursday and finished the match with a .500 attacking percentage. Lynn, a freshman from Amarillo, has provided 13 double-digit kill performances this season with a previous career-high 18 kills coming against Midwestern State and Texas Woman's and has a .250 attacking percentage this season.

Blauser leads ASU with 341 kills this season and is averaging 3.79 kills per set, while Lynn has 238 kills and is averaging 2.74 per set. Sotello recorded a career-high 24 kills last Friday in a five-set win over Tarleton State and has provided 193 kills this season. Sotello is averaging 3.16 kills per set and has also provided 200 digs this season. She has recorded double-digit kills in nine matches this season, including in seven of the past eight matches. Blauser, a sophomore from Round Rock who earned LSC Newcomer of the Year, is in her first season at ASU after transferring from the University of Cincinnati. She has recorded 17 double-digit kill performances this season and had a career-high with 29 kills against Newman in a non-conference match. She provided 13 kills for the Belles in the first match against ENMU and then seven two weeks ago against the Zias. Blauser has also provided 48 blocks this season with six matches with three or more blocks.

Shelby Wilt is the all-time digs leader in program history with 2,410 digs in her career and was named the LSC Libero of the Year on Wednesday for the second time in her career. Wilt comes into this season's postseason with 548 digs for the Belles after playing the majority of the year from the libero position. She has recorded double-digit dig performances in 26 of 27 matches and has also provided 193 assists. The defense is also bolstered by Katie MacLeay, Alexa Johnson, Haley Bianco, Kelly Hasbrouck and Brooke Robertson. MacLeay, who was named the LSC Academic Player of the Year, has 336 digs and is averaging 3.39 digs per set this season. A junior from San Antonio, MacLeay has 1,118 digs in her three years at ASU.

Johnson, who earned LSC second-team honors and was a two-time LSC Setter of the Week this season, leads the Belles with 1,015 assists and has also provided 223 digs. A sophomore from Nebraska, Johnson transferred to ASU this season from Lamar University. She had a season-high 60 assists in a five-set loss to West Texas A&M two weeks ago and has also provided 63 kills from her setter position.

Zoey Hanrahan and Daeleigh Castile lead the ASU block this season with Hanrahan at 89 blocks and Castile at 57 blocks in her freshman season. Hanrahan, a sophomore from Pflugerville, is averaging 0.92 blocks per set and has recorded three or more blocks in 19 matches this season. She has also supplied 185 kills for the Belles and leads the team with a .263 attacking percentage. Castile has 113 kills in her freshman season out of Arizona and also has 82 digs. Arielle Bond recorded a season-high five blocks on Thursday against ENMU and has 117 kills this season and 590 in her career, while Cerbi Ritchey has 75 kills this season and 298 in her career. Harahan is approaching a career milestone with 95 total blocks in her career after having six as a freshman.
 
PREVIOUS MEETINGS BETWEEN ASU, CU
 
Belles sweep Aggies in first road match of season (Sept. 12)
LAWTON, Okla. – A slow start by the No. 25-ranked Angelo State volleyball team quickly reversed course and turned into a Lone Star Conference sweep over Cameron on Friday at the Aggie Gym.

The Belles (5-1, 2-0 LSC), who were playing their first road match of the season, trailed the first set 9-4 before righting the ship and pulling out a 25-23 first-set victory. ASU then took the second set 25-17 and closed out the sweep with a 25-22 win in the third set against the Aggies (3-2, 0-1 LSC).

"Cameron came out and really jumped on us early," ASU head coach Chuck Waddington said. "They were very low error and had a great crowd behind them. I really liked the way we responded to being in that situation. Our kids stayed calm and started chipping away at it. Even though this was just a three-set match, it was a tough one for us. Qi (Wang) is doing a great job with his team and we had to work really hard for the win."

Abbie Lynn led the Belles with 10 kills and finished with a .320 attacking percentage, while Alexa Johnson supplied 38 assists and led the team with four blocks. Shelby Wiltcontributed 19 digs for ASU's defense. Mallory Blauser added nine kills and Daeleigh Castile led the Belles with a .500 attacking percentage and finished with eight kills. Arielle Bond hit .294 and finished with seven kills and Zoey Hanrahan and Castile added three blocks.

"Abbie was definitely a go-to player for us and came through big in clutch situations," Waddington said. "Daeleigh made herself available to Alexa and put the ball away for us. It was pretty cool to see them step up like that in a situation like that early here in their freshman season."

Angelo State finished the match with a .222 team hitting percentage and limited the Aggies to a .079 percentage. The Belles committed only 16 errors, while CU had 23 errors in its home opener. The first set was controlled by Cameron until the Belles closed the margin and eventually took their first lead at 20-19. The Aggies retied the set at 22-22 on an ASU attacking error and took a 23-22 lead over ASU on a kill by Kat Evans. The Belles would tie the match and retake the lead at 24-23 on a pair of Lynn kills before a kill by Bond ended the first set. ASU's first-set attacking percentage was .191, but it would improve as the night progressed with a .241 percentage in the second set and a .244 percentage in the close-out set.

Evans led the Aggies with 10 kills, while Shannon DuLaney added 15 digs and Ingrid Boatman had 16 assists. CU led the Belles 8-7 in blocks with Jordan Escobar supplying six blocks and Paige Holt having five blocks.
 
Belles sweep Aggies in Dig Pink match at Junell Center (Oct. 17)
SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State volleyball team cruised to a 3-0 Lone Star Conference win over Cameron and raised $3,001 to donate to the Side-Out Foundation in its Dig Pink match on Friday at the Junell Center.

The Belles (13-5, 7-4 LSC) bounced back from two conference losses last weekend in the 25-16, 25-16, 25-19 match by hitting .248 as a team and limiting themselves to 13 errors while holding the Aggies (10-9, 3-7 LSC) to a .092 attacking percentage where they had 20 errors.

"We competed well and handled our side of the net the way we're supposed to for the first time in a while," ASU head coach Chuck Waddington said. "That was really good to see. Our middles were really active and were able to keep Cameron's team off balance. Our ball control was good and we created good chances for us in transition. That's the way you have to play to win matches."

Mallory Blauser led the Belles with 13 kills and had a .343 attacking percentage, while Zoey Hanrahan had 10 kills, four blocks and seven digs. Alexa Johnson added 36 assists in the three-set win and also had seven digs and three kills from the setter position. Back at libero, Shelby Wilt led the defense with 21 digs and also provided two service aces.

Brianna Sotello had a strong match on both sides of play with 12 digs and seven kills and Abbie Lynn provided nine kills and had a .364 attacking percentage. The Belles had a 6-4 block advantage with Johnson having three blocks assists and Blauser adding two more block assists to go along with her offensive numbers. Blauser now leads the team with 251 kills this season, while Wilt has 328 digs (5.05 per set).

Kendra Evans led Cameron with eight kills, while Lindsey McCauley had 13 digs. CU was limited to a .019 attacking percentage in the second set and a .094 percentage in the third set. ASU dominated the first set with a .455 attacking percentage to get the match started.