SAN ANGELO – The No. 19-ranked Angelo State volleyball team responded from an upset loss on Friday with a pair of dominant wins on Saturday over Arkansas-Monticello and Western New Mexico on the final day of the Kathleen Brasfield Invitational at the Junell Center.  

The Belles (3-1) swept UAM by the score of 25-21, 25-17, 25-8 in their noon match before taking down the Mustangs 25-19, 25-18, 27-29, 25-16 in a matchup of two teams which advanced to last season's NCAA Division II South Central Championships. ASU, which suffered a tough five-set loss on Friday night to Arkansas Fort Smith, cleaned up its game and reduced errors which were a talking point from head coach Chuck Waddington coming into the day.

"The difference from today and yesterday was we were able to serve tougher to make our job on defense easier and then we also minimized our errors," Waddington said. "We didn't make a lot of errors in a row which killed us yesterday. We were able to minimize our mistakes which is important to our success."

Western New Mexico fell to 1-3 on the season with its loss and Arkansas-Monticello left San Angelo with a 1-3 record following a loss to Tarleton State after its loss to ASU. The TexAnns went 3-1 at the tournament and Missouri Southern went 1-3.

Shelby Wilt led the Angelo State defense with 34 digs on Saturday with Katie MacLeay adding 24 and Kelly Hasbrouck contributing 20 digs. Offensively, Mallory Blauser had 29 kills and Arielle Bond put down 18 kills. Alexa Johnson orchestrated the offense from the setter position and finished the second day of the tournament with 74 assists and also helped the defense with 12 digs. The Belles were limited to a .173 attacking percentage in the two matches, but held their two opponents to a .085 percentage.

"I feel like we did a good job of digging balls in transition better," Wilt said. "It's a new team and we're still meshing, but I think it was a good weekend where we grew as a team and were able to work on some things."

Wilt and Blauser were named to the All-Tournament Team for their performances over the two days. Wilt finished the tournament with 80 digs (5.00 per set) and now has 1,942 career digs. Blauser, playing in her first weekend of play as a Belle, led ASU with 67 kills (4.19 per set) and also added four blocks.

Blauser led the Belles with 12 kills against UAM with Johnson supplying 27 assists in the sweep, while MacLeay had 19 digs. Bond recorded two saves against the Cotton Blossoms to go along with five kills. In the nightcap, Blauser topped the Belles stat sheet once again with 17 kills and Bond added 13 kills. Wilt had 17 digs against the Mustangs and Daeleigh Castile and Brooke Robertson both had 11 digs in the match. Zoey Hanrahan put together a versatile match with six kills and three blocks and Johnson had 47 kills. The Belles were in position to sweep the match before WNMU made a third-set rally after being down 24-22. The Mustangs staved off match point four times before taking the third set 29-27, but ASU quickly reestablished control to finish off the match in the fourth set.

Angelo State will now shift attention to the Pioneers of Texas Woman's and the start of Lone Star Conference play on Tuesday at the Junell Center. The two teams meet four times last season with ASU going 3-1 against TWU, including postseason wins in the LSC tournament and the NCAA DII South Central Championship.

"They're going to be ready to go and will be ready to play us," Waddington said. "There's a nice rivalry between our programs the past couple of years and they'll give us a challenge. We'll have to be clean on the court and have a strong block and continue to serve tough to get teams out of system."

  All-Tournament Team

Tournament MVP
Michelle Walker, UAFS
 
All-Tournament Selections
Jessica Anderson, UAFS
Aspen Luna, Arkansas-Monticello
Shelby Wilt, Angelo State
Mallory Blauser, Angelo State
Krishna Merriman, Missouri Southern
Hailey Roberts, Tarleton State
Katie Covell, Tarleton State
Barbara Soranzo, Western New Mexico