SAN ANGELO – The No. 11 Angelo State volleyball team returns home this week to take on a trio of LSC opponents starting with a top 25 matchup against No. 17 Tarleton State followed by bouts with UT – Permian Basin and West Texas A&M.
The Belles, now 8-3, 02 LSC, will look to rebound from a two match skid during last week's road trip. ASU Looking to extend its 24 match home winning streak, Angelo State will kick off the homestand with No. 17 Tarleton State on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. This match has been designated a gold out by the team. Along with asking all fans to wear gold, the first 200 ASU students in the Stephens Arena will receive a free t-shirt courtesy of the UCPC. The Belles will them move on to UTPB Friday at 7 p.m. and then West Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
In its last meeting with the TexAnns, ASU dominated the court sweeping TSU in the final round of the Colorado Premier Tournament in Denver, Colorado. The Belles have taken six of the last seven matches from Tarleton State. The TexAnns will enter Wednesday's match with a 7-4 overall record and 1-1 record in the LSC, and will also be looking to bounce back after a five set road loss to Texas A&M – Commence.
UT-Permian Basin will follow TSU on the Belles radar. The Falcons, who will travel to Canyon, Texas to face West Texas A&M before they head south to San Angelo, are sporting a 4-6, 11-LSC record. Prior to it match up with the Lady Buffs, UTPB dropped its last match 3-0 to Midwestern State at home. The last two meetings between the Belles and Falcons have both resulted in ASU sweeps.
Angelo State will cap its trio of home matches on Saturday with a 7-4 Lady Buffs team that is currently undefeated in conference play at 2-0. WTAMU will first face UTPB at home and then travel to Stephenville to face Tarleton State before stopping in for a visit at the Stephens Arena at the Jun ell Center. Both West Texas A&M and the Belles share a common opponent this season in Adams State. While ASU swept the Grizzles on the road, the Lady Buffs downed Adams State in four sets at home. The Lady Buffs took the last meeting, 3-1, in San Angelo between the two squads.
ASU currently sits on top of the conference with a .251 team hitting percentage and a 14.08 kills per set average. Defensively, the squad checks in second in the LSC with 2.24 total blocks per set and have limited its opponents to a conference second lowest .149 clip. ASU also leads the Lone Star Conference with an average of 13.37 assists per set.
Leading the Belles attack will be Brianna Sotello, Sundara Chinn and Anna Graham. Sotello, who sits second in the LSC with a 3.92 kill per set average, led the team last week with 3.60 kills per set. With 1,295 career kills, she is now only five kills away from climbing into fifth on the all-time kills list in ASU history. The senior has also assisted the defense with 2.37 digs per set. This has allowed her to lead the team with three double-doubles on the year.
Chinn is second on the team with a 3.00 kill per set average. The Houston native is also sporting a .292 attack percentage for the season. Defensively, she has recorded a team third 25 blocks. Rounding out the group, Graham is third on the Belles with 2.40 kills per set and a team high .329 clip (at least 50 percent of sets played). She has been force along the net helping the ASU defensive efforts with a 1.00 block per set average and a total of 35 blocks thus far.
Setting the rock for ASU will mainly be sophomore, Meghan Parker. The setter out of San Antonio has 319 total assists on the year which places her career total at 1,743 and is now only 146 assists away from moving into ninth place all-time in program history. She is averaging 8.39 assists per set and also leads ASU with 17 aces from the service line. Parker has a tallied a team second two double-doubles this season.
Anchoring the defense has been Morgan Seaton and Micheala Sifuentes. Seaton is second in the conference and first on the team with 39 blocks on the year. She has also dropped in 1.46 kill per set to assist the offense. Sifuentes, who marked a career high 27 digs against Texas A&M -Commerce, leads the team in the department with 5.16 digs per set. The junior is also second on the team with 11 service aces this season.
Also making contributions on the court for the Belles is Abbie Lynn, Bailey Drum, Eadara Files, and Bailey Mulder. Lynn racked up a team third eight kills in ASU last match. She is currently averaging 1.15 kills per set. Drum has also contributed to the team's offensive successes this season with a team fourth 69 kills on the season and a .226 clip. Files is second in setting up the Angelo State offense with 3.94 assists per set. She has also assisted the defense with 1.35 digs per set. Finally, Mulder has cracked into the team leader list with a squad third nine service aces.
