Belles sweep their way to South Central Regional semifinals with win

CANYON, Texas -- Angelo State couldn't have dreamed of a better start for itself at the NCAA Division II South Central championship.

Hitting percentage, receiving, getting through the vaunted Texas Woman's block, everything worked for the Belles as they claimed a 3-0 (25-13, 25-18, 25-15) quarterfinals win against the Pioneers on Thursday at the WTAMU Fieldhouse. ASU (24-9) advances to the semifinals where it will play No. 2-seed Colorado School of Mines.

"I was really pleased with the way we played today," ASU head coach Chuck Waddington said. "We talked about putting pressure on the other team and winning the serve-and-pass battle. That is a great team that we played today and we executed really well. Even in the second set when we were down 6-1, I felt we were managing the game well enough to get back into it."

Arielle Bond led the Belles with 12 kills and hit .391 on 23 attacks, while Maddie Huth added eight kills and six blocks in the win. Maggi Jo Keffury led the offense with 34 assists and also contributed nine digs in her first postseason match at ASU. Courtney Bartusiak led ASU with a .417 hitting percentage and finished with six kills, while Shelby Wilt provided a team-leading 12 digs. Cerbi Ritchey provided six kills and two blocks with Haley Bianco and Katie MacLeay finishing with six digs each.