The title game will feature the top seeds as Angelo State and West Texas A&M prevailed in the semifinals of the Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championship at Stephens Arena inside the Junell Center in San Angelo, Texas.
2012 LSC Volleyball Championship (Fri) Gallery
Angelo State 3, Texas Woman’s 2
The Angelo State volleyball team advanced to the Lone Star Conference Championship finals with a 3-2 (25-14, 18-25, 25-19, 24-26, 15-11) semifinal victory over Texas Woman's on Friday at the Junell Center.
The Belles (27-4) will play West Texas A&M for the tournament championship for the third straight year and will look to end the Lady Buffs' six-year reign as champions. ASU, the regular-season LSC champion, last won the tournament championship in 1992. The championship game will be played at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
The win over Texas Woman's was the Belles' first five-set match of the season at home and pushes their record inside the Junell Center to 13-0. TWU ends its season with a 23-8 record, but not before pushing the Belles to its toughest win at home all season.
Shelbi Goode led the Belles with 18 kills, while Maddie Huth added 16 and eight blocks. Leah McWilliams had a career-high 14 kills. Alex Woolsey continued to orchestrate an effective offense with 53 assists and Katie MacLeay added a career-high 20 digs. Shelby Wilt contributed 18 digs and Haley Bianco added another 10. Emily Booth led Angelo State with a .615 hitting percentage and had nine kills.
Angelo State hit for a .269 percentage and held TWU to a .077 percentage in the fifth set. ASU is now 2-2 in five-set matches this season and 2-1 against TWU this season after the two teams split their regular-season matches against each other.
Viktorija Jablonska led TWU with 21 kills, 25 assists and 15 digs. The Belles and Pioneers each had 11 blocks in the match and ASU held a slim advantage with 85 digs to TWU's 82.
West Texas A&M 3, Tarleton State 0
The #9 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M made short work of the Tarleton State TexAnns on Friday night in the Lone Star Conference Tournament Semifinals (25-22, 25-12, 25-21) to advance to their seventh straight LSC Title match at the Junell Center on the campus of Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas. The Lady Buffs improve to 29-4 overall on the season while the TexAnns fall to 23-9.
The win lifts the Lady Buffs to 38-2 all-time against the TexAnns and a perfect 5-0 in the LSC Tournament. The Lady Buffs advance to their 15th LSC Title match including their seventh straight, WT has registered a 13-1 overall record when the tournament crown is on the line. The win also marked the 20th consecutive victory for the Lady Buffs in the LSC Tournament.
The match started off with emotion running high as the two teams traded blows early before the TexAnns went on a small run to take a 13-11 lead before an Ashley Davis kill turned the momentum to the Lady Buffs' side. Tarleton would battle back to tie the match at 18-18 before a Laura Iwuchukwu kill sparked a run by the Lady Buffs to force a Tarleton timeout with WT leading 20-18.
The teams trade blows following the break with the TexAnns using strong play in the middle by LSC Defensive Player of the Year Nikki McNorton to tie the match at 21-21, the Lady Buffs answered with a pair of kills by Davis to force another TSU timeout with WT leading 23-21. A Stormi Lancaster kill forced set point for the Lady Buffs and a Davis kill down the line gave WT the 25-22 win.
The Lady Buffs carried the momentum into the second set as they jumped out to an early 7-3 lead to force a quick timeout by TSU's Mary Schindler, WT continued to roll after the break with four straight points highlighted by a Sophie McBride service ace to extend the WT lead to 11-3. The teams traded a pair of long rallies with Lancaster finding the back corner of the court to force a TSU timeout with WT leading 14-6.
The Lady Buff defense stepped up after the break with three blocks by Erin Dougherty in a span of four points as WT lead stretched to 21-9, the TexAnns wouldn't go down without a fight as they tallied three of the next four points before another Dougherty block gave the serve and the momentum back to the Lady Buffs. Kills by Iwuchusku and Halie Harton ended the set with WT winning, 25-12.
The third set started off with the two teams trading points with both defenses holding strong, Dougherty connected on the slide play to tie the match a 12-12, the teams continued to trade blows with an Iwuchukwu block forcing a Tarleton timeout with WT leading 15-13. A pair of attack errors by the TexAnns forced another TSU timeout with the Lady Buffs leading 19-16.
The TexAnns responded after the break including a huge kill by Stacie Murrah before the Lady Buff defense tightened up, Lancaster registered a service ace followed by a huge block by Dougherty and Lacy Hayes to force match point. The TexAnns registered the next two points before a kill by Harton ended the set and the match with WT winning, 25-21.
The Lady Buffs were led offensively by Halie Harton with 13 kills followed by Erin Dougherty with 11 and Ashley Davis with nine. Senior setter Lacy Hayes dished out a match high 40 assists with 12 digs for her 15th double-double of the season, fellow senior Lauren Beville registered 22 digs on the night with Stormi Lancaster registering 14 digs. The Lady Buffs hit .287 as a team with 11 attack errors and eight total blocks.
The TexAnns were led by Nikki McNorton with nine kills followed by Katie Covell with eight and Stacie Murrah with seven. Danielle Barker dished out a team high 18 assists on the night with Emily Klein leading all players with 22 digs. Tarleton hit .121 as a team with 20 attack errors and six total blocks.
The Lady Buffs advance to tomorrow's Lone Star Conference Championship match against the winner of the #11 Angelo State and Texas Woman's match. First serve for the title match is set for 2 p.m. at the Junell Center in San Angelo, Texas. Fans in the Canyon/Amarillo area can listen live on KWTS The One 91.1 as Keltin Wiens provides the call for the match.