DENVER, Colo. – The Angelo State women's volleyball team dropped its first two matches of the season to No. 4 Concordia-St. Paul 3-0 and Metro State 3-1 to open the Colorado Premier Challenge in Denver, Colo., on Friday.

Angelo State (6-2) came out and battled No. 4 Concordia-St. Paul (3-1) exchanging leads throughout the first set.  A CSP attack error put the Belles on the verge of a first set victory at 24-23. A CSP kill was answered with a Zoey Hanrahan kill to make it 25-24 but an ASU service error followed to tie the match at 25. The Golden Bears scored the final two points to win the set.

"I thought we competed well versus Concordia-St. Paul but we just didn't make enough plays in critical situations," ASU head volleyball coach Chuck Waddington said.

The Golden Bears hit .254 as a team compared to just .122 for ASU. CSP's Riley Hanson led all players with 13 kills. Anna Schlaak and Emily McDonough recorded 12 and 10 kills each.

Mallory Blauser led ASU with nine kills and followed by Brianna Sotello's eight kills and nine digs. Hanrahan and Abbie Lynn each collected seven kills in the match as well. Maggi Jo Keffury dished out 33 assists while Katie MacLeay led all players with 21 digs. 

The second match had Metro State (3-2) win the first set 25-18 despite the Belles leading 17-11. ASU battled back and was able to take the second set 33-31 before falling in the final two sets 25-20 and 25-18. The Roadrunners had 13.0 team blocks and held ASU to a .144 hitting percentage.

"I was disappointed in our effort in the second match," Waddington said. "I felt like Metro State out worked us on the court which is probably what bothers me the most. We came up here to compete against the best. It will help us in the long run."

The second set was a marathon with nine game points. ASU had built a 20-17 lead that forced a Metro State timeout and moments later the match was tied at 23. A kill by Sotello gave the Belles their first game point of the match at 24-23. Facing a second set loss, ASU received back-to-back kills from Lynn and Sotello to reverse the score to 26-25. A MSU attack error brought the score to 31 a piece before two more attacking errors sealed the set win for ASU.

Blauser's season high of 18 kills was one of three with double-digits kills. Lynn recorded 12 kills and Sotello added her fourth double-double of the season with 10 kills and 12 digs. MacLeay picked up 19 digs and Keffury finished with her second double-double of the year with 43 assists and 16 digs. Brooke Robertson recorded nine digs and Micheala Sifuentes added seven.

The Belles will play first at 10:30 a.m. CDT against UC-San Diego. ASU will play a second match with time and opponent determined after the first match.