SAN ANGELO – The No. 13 Angelo State volleyball team swept ENMU (25-23, 25-21, 25-15) in the semifinals match of the Loner Star Conference Tournament on Friday night to advance to the championship match against second seeded Tarleton State.

The Belles jump to 30-3 with Friday's victory and will advance to the LSC finals match for the seventh straight season. This will also mark the third consecutive year that ASU would face the TexAnns in the LSC Tournament Finals.  With the loss, the Greyhounds close out its 2016 season with a 19-13 record.

"We prepared really well before we even got on the court tonight," said ASU Head Volleyball Coach Chuck Waddington. "We looked hard at what they were going to do, so we could make sure we were in the right places at the right times. We were disciplined and stuck to that plan and it payed dividends for us. Obviously we had a little extra motivation, but we want to compete for a conference championship. The fact that they had beat us before really raised our awareness that we have to come and compete every single night. Tonight was no exception. We played at a pretty high level and executed well against a pretty talented team. I thought we executed our game plan to a "T" tonight."

Mallory Blauser, Brianna Sotello and Abbie Lynn led the Belles fierce attack against ENMU. Blauser fired in a team high 14 kills for the night. She added an ace from the service line and five digs to her numbers. Sotello followed with a team second 12 kills. The juniors 10 digs earned her a second consecutive double-double for the tournament and a 13^th overall. Lynn rounds out the group with 11 kills and an outstanding .500 clip. She co-led the ASU defense with a pair of block assists.

 Mallory Davidson and Micheala Sifuentes headed the Belles defensive efforts. Davidson recorded her 16^th straight double-figure dig match turning in 19 for the match. Sifuentes recorded six digs of her own and an ace.

Continuing to set up the attack for Angelo State, Meghan Parker tallied 38 assists. The freshman also recorded her ninth double-double as she added a team second 12 digs to help contain the ENMU attack. 

Also playing big roles in the semifinals victory was Tulani Titley and Morgan Seaton. Titley chalked a pair of blocks and five kills, while Seaton also dropped in five kills giving her a .556 clip in the match.

The Belles began the match with a big block from Lynn and Seaton to place the first point on the board. However the Hounds would swiftly respond and the two teams would remain evenly matched throughout the set. The score would be tied up 11 times before, with 23-23 on the board, Sotello would slam down a pair of kills to close out the set for the Belles.

The Belles opened up the second set continuing to ride the momentum with a 5-1 run that saw three kills from Blauser and two from Lynn. ENMU battled back to take a 7-6 lead, before another Lynn kill followed by a Sifuentes ace and a Sotello kill place ASU back on top. Tied at nine, Titley rocketed one in that sent the Belles off on an 8-2 run that also saw big swings from Blauser and Seaton. Finally, with a 23-21 lead, a pair of Greyhound errors gave ASU a 2-0 set lead in the match.

Angelo State opened the final set much like the second with a large run (7-1). Contributing to the seven points were kills from Seaton and Lynn. Up 9-5, kills from Lynn and Sotello, along with a big block from Parker and Titley began to place distance between the two squads. The Belles would continue to push its lead further until consecutive kills from Sotello and Blauser with 23-15 on the board would send the Belles to the winner's circle.

Angelo State is 1-1 against the TexAnns in the LSC Tournament finals with the Belles taking last year's title game in five sets in Stephenville. The Belles downed Tarleton State in both of its 2016 regular season meetings, sweeping the TexAnns both times. First serve for Saturday's Championship match in the Stephens Arena at the Junell center is scheduled for 3 p.m.

"This will be the third year in a row we've played Tarleton in the championship game, and they are an extremely talented team. I expect it to be a back and forth battle, just like it's been in both of our matches with them in the regular season," added Waddington.