WICHITA FALLS, Texas – The Angelo State volleyball team capped off its regular season with a sweep (25-9, 25-19, 25-18) of Midwestern State on Saturday afternoon sealing its invitation to the 2015 Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championship.
With its 18th sweep of the season the Belles finished the regular season 28-5 overall and 14-2 in the LSC. This was the best regular season finish for Angelo State since 2011. With the loss MSU slid to 6-26, 0-16 LSC.
"This was a good team win today," said ASU volleyball head coach Chuck Waddington. "We got everyone into the match and played extremely well. We exceled defensively and made it hard for Midwestern to score."
Brianna Sotello led the ASU offense marking her 18th double-double of the season. The sophomore tallied 13 kills and 13 digs for the match. She continues to lead the Belles with 429 kills on the year and is still second on the squad with 390 digs. The outside hitter also added a block and an ace to her totals.
Mallory Blauser supported the offensive efforts with a team second nine kills and a service ace. Blauser currently remains second in the conference with a 4.15 kill per set average. Completing the ASU attack leaders Morgan Seaton accrued 7 kills on the day adding to her 169 total.
Dishing out the ball for the Belles Maggi Jo Keffury continued to make her run at the sixth place on the all-time ASU assist list with 38. She continues to lead the nation, LSC and the team topping the 1400 assist mark for the season with 1401. The senior is also averaging a LSC and ASU leading 11.97 assist per set. Her 11 dig contribution to the Belles defense this afternoon marked her 15th double-double on the year.
Fellow senior Katie MacLeay racked up 17 digs to lead the ASU defense against the Mustangs. This brought her 2015 total to 624 digs with an average of 5.29. She remains the conference and team leader in this category.
ASU came out firing in the first set with a 19-4 run that included kills from Blauser, Lynn, Morgan Seaton and Taylor Lee Seaton. This lengthy run also included a key block from Lynn and Morgan Seaton and service aces from Sotello and Blauser. After a counter run by MSU which placed the score at 20-9, Morgan Seaton began a 5-0 ASU run that would see the set closed out by a Keffury ace. With Angelo State holding the Mustangs to a -.103 clip for the first set, the Belles would take a 1-0 set lead with a 25-9 first set score.
The second set would not be as easy for ASU with the Mustangs keeping it tight throughout, however the Belles defense would continue to prove its value holding MSU to a .073 attack percentage. With Angelo State up by a score of 18-16, Blauser lined up three consecutive kills to give the Belles a 21-16 lead. This was immediately followed up with Morgan Seaton contributing a pair of her own to complete the 5-1 run. With the score now 23-19, the set would end in favor of ASU off of two untimely Mustang errors. This gave the Belles a 2-0 set lead upon entering the intermission.
In the final set Sotello would give the Belles the lead right out of the gate firing in a kill. MSU would fight back to pull within one at 3-2 off of an ASU attack error. A Lynn kill would then spark a 9-1 run that would push ASU's lead to nine. The Mustangs and the Belles would exchange points throughout the rest of the set with ASU never relinquishing its lead. Cerbi Ritchey would drop in the final kill of the set to give the Belles the 25-18 set victory and the sweep.
Finishing second in the Lone Star Conference the Belles have earned a bid to the 2015 LSC Volleyball Championship. The Belles will look to face rival West Texas A&M in the first round of the tournament on Thursday, November 19 at 2:30 p.m. Having finished first in the LSC, Tarleton State will provide the tournament venue as the host.
"We are excited to get to the post season for eighth straight year," commented Waddington. "WT is currently playing well and will present a strong challenge for us in the first round."Â
