SAN ANGELO – No.16 Angelo State volleyball prepares for home matches against Midwestern State and Cameron, with Friday's match being the Belles annual "Dig Pink" match.
Looking for a fourth straight win, ASU will kick things off on Friday at 7 p.m. as it brings awareness to breast cancer with its annual "Dig Pink" match. The Belles will take on an 8-7, 2-2 LSC, Midwestern squad which will be seeking to rebound after a four set home loss to Texas A&M Commerce. The last time these two teams faced off was in the 2016 LSC Championship Tournament, where ASU eliminated the Mustangs in the first round via a sweep.
During Friday's match the Belles will be sporting the 2017 edition of its annual "Dig Pink" jerseys to help bring awareness to breast cancer. The jerseys will be auctioned off and the proceeds will be donated to the Sideout Foundation for breast cancer research. In volleyball, the term "side-out" refers to a team regaining control of the ball. This is the aim of the Side-Out Foundation, to help breast cancer patients regain control of their lives. The foundation accomplishes this goal by utilizing the power and teamwork of the volleyball community to support "game-changing" breast cancer research. This allows patients an increase in quality time spent with their families until a cure is found. In 2016, ASU hit an outstanding mark and surpassed previous years by donating well over $4000 to the cause.
Angelo State will then continue its homestand on Saturday, October 7 as it faces Cameron at 2 p.m. The Aggies are riding a two match slide and are 5-10 overall on the season and 2-5 in the conference. The Aggies will be looking to build off of its last home win against East Central University. ASU has not lost to Cameron since November 3, 2007.
Rocking a .255 team hitting percentage (19th nationally), the Belles are currently sitting 12th in the nation with 14.30 kills per set and 10th in the nation with 13.53 assists per set. Defensively, Angelo State is second in the conference in both digs per set (16.98) and blocks per set (2.13). The squad has also held it opponents to the second lowest attack percentage (0.156) in the LSC.
The Belles will look to Brianna Sotello and Sundara Chinn to lead the offensive onslaught. Sotello, who has a team highest 3.96 kills per set average, has 210 kills on the season. This places her just 43 career kills away from moving into third all-time in program history. The senior captain has also played a major role on the defensive side of the ball, recording double-figure kills throughout the last four matches. She not only leads the squad with six double-doubles on the season, but has also moved into sixth all-time with 1,303 career digs.
Chinn, who secured her second LSC Offensive Player of the Week award this past week, follows with a team second 3.00 kills per set. Entering this week's match with a .293 attack percentage on the season to help the offense, she has also recorded a team third 30 blocks to assist the defense.
Setting up the attack in its 6-2 offense will be Meghan Parker and Eadara Files. Parker continues to head the team with 8.19 assists per set. She also leads the squad from the service line with 19 aces on the year. Adding to her overall numbers, the sophomore has dug a team third 2.15 balls per set this season. Files has played well over the past several weeks marking a career high in assists (21) in the team's last two matches, and double-figure assists over the last four. Defensively, she is averaging 1.25 digs per set.
Anchoring the ASU defense will be Micheala Sifuentes and Morgan Seaton. Sifuentes is currently leading the conference with 523 digs per set. Seaton has been a force along the net as the senior has recorded a team most 48 on the year. She is also fifth on the Belles with 81 total kills.
Angelo State can also depend on a solid bench, with players like Tulani Titley, Anna Graham, Bailey Drum and Haley Coulter providing great depth to the roster. Titley, who is second on the squad with a .294 hitting percentage, has recorded 18 kills over the last three matches. She played a key role in ASU's victory over both UT- Permian Basin and West Texas A&M. Also playing a big part in these two victories was Coulter, who marked a career high 11 kills against the Lady Buffs. She has also aided the defense with 1.93 digs per set. Graham marked nine kills in last week's rod win over Texas A&M – Kingsville. This helped to place her third in the team's the kills per set rankings with 2.23. The Bushland, Texas native is also second on the team with 44 total blocks thus far. Finally, marking eight kills against the Javelinas and fourth on ASU with 84 kills in 2017, Drum provides a solid option at the outside hitter position.
