SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State volleyball team has returned home from a week-long road trip in Colorado and will take on No. 17 Texas A&M-Commerce at 7 p.m. Friday and Texas Woman's at 2 p.m. on Saturday in the Stephens Arena at the Junell Center.
The Belles are 7-3 on the year after splitting their Colorado road trip with a 3-3 record. The three wins on the road trip came against Colorado State-Pueblo, No. 10 Regis and previously ranked Saint Leo.
"We're playing four freshman all the time and several other younger players," Angelo State head volleyball coach Chuck Waddington said. "Last week I think we saw that those players can play with some of the best teams in the country but also sometimes play like they're freshmen. But we played a lot of games against tome tough teams, and ideally that will help them learn quicker."
Leading the team over the week-long trip both defensively and offensively was sophomore Baleigh Allen. After playing just five matches last season, Allen is first on the team with a.325 hitting percentage and fourth most 56 kills. She has also been a force defensively, ranking third in the Lone Star Conference with 31 blocks.
As a team, the Belles are also third in the conference in blocks per set with an average of 2.03. Following right behind Allen at the net are junior Sundara Chinn and freshman Sophia Berg who each have 27.
Chinn is also the team leader in kills this season, with 87 and an average of 2.72 per set, while Berg has posted 52 kills in her first collegiate season.
Junior Anna Graham is the fourth and final Belle with double-digit blocks on the season, while also posting strong offensive numbers of with 63 kills.
The Belle defense, which has the lowest opponent hitting percentage of any team in the LSC, is also helped by five players with more than 50 digs already on the season, including Sundara Chinn, Makenna Hanssen, Morgan Preston, Meghan Parker and Chloe Robinson.
Chinn is also the team-leader in digs this season with 98 and an average of 3.06 per set. Hanssen and Preston have split time as the libero this season, with Hanssen posting 93 digs on the year and Preston adding in 89. Freshman Chloe Robinson has seen extensive playing time this year as well and has 51 digs on the year.
ASU's setter, Meghan Parker, has also played strong defense this season with 83 digs. The San Antonio native is second in the LSC with 315 assists and has posted five double-doubles on the season.
Parker has had the responsibility of setting up the Angelo State offense so far this season. Besides Chinn, Graham, Berg and Allen, the offense has been impacted by a pair of transfers in Audrey Fragniere and Makenzie Griffin.
Fragniere is second on the team in kills with 80 and an average of 2.58 per set, while Griffin has averaged exactly 2 kills per set in limited playing time.
Also making an impact with ASU this season has been Eadara Files, Bailey Drum and Grace White.
Texas A&M-Commerce comes into Friday's matchup ranked in the AVCA top 25 for the first time sinc 1989. The Lions also competed at the Colorado Premier Challenge last week, taking down three teams ranked in the top 10 over the weekend.
Texas Woman's has had a strong start to the season as well, posting a 6-2 record with the two losses coming to Southwestern Oklahoma State and Central Oklahoma.
