TYLER, Texas – The No. 7 Belles volleyball team rallied back against the No. 12 University of Texas Tyler Patriots, defeating Tyler in five sets to claim back-to-back Lone Star Conference Championships after being down 2-1.
 
Set one started off well for the Belles as kills from Grace White, Kailyn Gilbreath, and a service ace from Lindsey Ledyard brought ASU to a 4-2 lead early on. Several kills from Baleigh Allen and errors from the UT Tyler Patriots brought ASU to an 8-6 lead over Tyler, but the Patriots responded quickly and served for four unanswered points to take an 11-8 lead over the Belles in set one.
 
Kills from Delaney Fuller, Gilbreath, and White put ASU within one point of taking the lead, but the Patriots managed to find their rhythm again and scored four more unanswered points to extend their lead to five over Angelo State, 17-12.
 
The Belles fought hard in set one and almost took the lead from the Patriots, but Tylers offense proved too much for ASU as the Belles fell against the Patriots in set one, 25-21.
 
The Belles came back with a vengeance in set two however, as Lindsey Ledyard registered a service ace to start the set off for Angelo State, followed by several kills from Gilbreath and Fuller to take a 5-1 lead over UT Tyler. The Patriots managed to close the gap between them and ASU to two points at 5-3, but a kill from Gilbreath brought ASU to a 6-3 lead and sent Allen to the service line for the Belles.
 
Allen found her rhythm at the service line as she served for four unanswered as Gilbreath registered another kill for the Belles and Allen registered a service ace to bring ASU to a seven-point lead over the Patriots, 10-3. Tyler managed to cut their deficit to four at point, but a kill from Fuller along with several errors from the Patriots grew the Belles lead to seven, 15-8.
 
The Patriots scored four unanswered points to cut the Belles lead once again to three, but two kills from Fuller and an error from the Patriots brought ASU back to a lead of five over UT Tyler, 18-13. A kill from Sophia Berg, several attack errors from the Patriots, and another ace from Allen in back to serve for ASU brought the Belles to a 23-15 lead over Tyler.
 
UT Tyler attempted to make a comeback to take the lead from the Belles, but a kill from Berg ended the second set in favor of Angelo State as ASU took set two to tie the match up at 1-1, 25-19.
 
UT Tyler came back swinging against the Belles as Tyler took an early 4-2 lead to begin the third set. The Belles managed to take a one-point lead over the Patriots off of several errors on the Patriots and another ace for Allen, but Tyler tied the set up at 5-5 on a kill.
 
Three quick kills from Berg gave the Belles a two-point lead over UT Tyler at 8-6, but several errors from the Belles and a kill gave Tyler a lead of one at 11-10. Gilbreath smashed a kill to send Allen back to the service line, where she served for two serves as the Patriots registered another error and Nailah Gordon grabbed a kill to put the Belles two points over the Patriots at 15-13.
 
Angelo State and UT Tyler began trading points back and forth, resulting in several ties at 16-16 and 18-18, but the Patriots managed to find their second wind and took the serve back from ASU, where they served for until the end of the third set as UT Tyler defeated the Blue and Gold, 25-20, to take a 2-1 lead over ASU.
 
The Belles began finding the weak links in the Patriots defenses in the fourth set as the Belles quickly took a 5-1 lead over UT Tyler off multiple errors. Kills from Gilbreath and Gordon brought ASU to a five-point lead over Tyler, 8-3, but the Patriots managed to pull themselves together and cut their deficit to one off several kills and errors from the Belles, 8-7.
 
A kill from Gilbreath sent Morgan Preston to the service line for the Belles, where she served for five straight serves as Gilbreath, Gordon, and Allen all registered kills to bring ASU to an eight-point lead over UT Tyler, 18-10. Tyler managed to score two points and broke Prestons rhythm, but a kill from Allen brought her to the service line where she served for three unanswered points as Gordon and Berg registered kills to give ASU a 10 point-lead, their highest of the night, over UT Tyler, 22-12.
 
The Patriots attempted to make another comeback and scored three points to cut their deficit to seven, but a service ace from Gilbreath ended the fourth set in favor of ASU as Angelo State defeated the Patriots in the fourth set, 25-15, to tie the match at 2-2.
 
A kill from Gilbreath and several errors from the Patriots gave ASU a 3-1 lead early in the fifth set, but Tyler responded quickly and scored three unanswered points to take a lead of one over the Belles at 4-3. Two kills from Berg tied the set up at 6-6, and kills from Elsa Lamphere, Berg, Gilbreath, and an error from the Patriots brought ASU to an 10-6 lead over UT Tyler.
 
The Belles managed to grow their lead to five over the Patriots off of a service error from Tyler and a kill from Allen, but the Patriots managed to cut their deficit to two as three Patriots each registered a kill to bring the score to 12-10 in favor of ASU.
 
Lamphere ended the fifth set, and the match, in favor for Angelo State as she smashed a kill to bring the fifth set to an end and solidify Angelo States win against the Patriots at 15-11. In doing so, Angelo State secured their second Lone Star Conference Championship for back-to-back conference championship wins. This is Angelo States 11^th conference championship title in its history.
 
"I am so proud of this group in a year with so much uncertainty, they stayed the course and bought in 100%," said Head Coach Chuck Waddington. "They showed so much grit in back-to-back matches against undefeated opponents. I love this team."
 
Key Players:

• Gilbreath registered her 10^th double-double of the season and led the Belles offense against the Patriots, as she registered 23 kills, hit a .300 clip, and scored 26 points for Angelo State. She finished the match with six assists, one service ace, three blocks, one of which was a solo block, and 10 digs.
• Ledyard led the Belles defensively and registering her sixth double-double on the season, as she registered 19 digs against the Patriots impressive offense. Ledyard also registered a career and season high 52 assists for the Belles, along with two service aces, one kill, and three block assists to end the match against UT Tyler.
• Berg followed behind in second on offense for the Belles as she registered 14 kills and scored 17.5 points against the Patriots, finishing with a .500 hitting percentage. She was a huge asset on defense for the Blue and Gold as she registered seven block assists for the Belles, which was a season high.
• Allen was a major impact on both sides of the ball for Angelo State as she finished with seven kills and 14 points for the Belles, along with three service aces on offense for the Belles. She was a major impact on the defense against the Patriots, as she seven total blocks as well, one of which was a solo block, and four digs for Angelo State.