SAN ANGELO, TX — The Angelo State University volleyball team is consistently in the top five in the country in attendance among NCAA Division II schools.
That home-court advantage is about to go up a notch.
ASU will begin its season by hosting the Kathleen Brasfield Invitational this weekend at the Junell Center. There are expected to be 3,000 elementary students in attendance for the first match at noon Friday against New Mexico Highlands.
“It’s chaos and it’s a lot of fun,” ASU head coach Chuck Waddington said. “You should come and witness it, because it’s the loudest thing you’ve ever seen in your life. There’s no better fan than a third-, fourth- or fifth-grade screaming kid. They’re screaming because they can.”
ASU’s season opener is an in-region match, and the Belles’ second match at 6 p.m. Friday is against No. 23-ranked Central Oklahoma.
On Saturday, the Belles will host Fort Lewis at 10 a.m. and Emmanuel at 6 p.m.
As usual, ASU enters the season with high expectations.
The Belles went 24-8 last year and lost in the semifinals of the South Central Regional Volleyball Tournament.
They’re picked to finish third in the Lone Star Conference this season behind West Texas A&M and Dallas Baptist. They fell just outside of the preseason Top 25 rankings.
ASU returns 10 players from last year and welcomes 10 newcomers, including seven freshmen.
“There’s a lot of learning going on, but there’s also a lot of talent,” Waddington said. “So I think the pieces are there for us to compete for a conference, regional and national championship. I really feel that way every year. But with the amount of things we have to learn, we’ve got to do that pretty quick. We don’t have a full year to do things. We’ve got 17 days to figure it out (before the start of Lone Star Conference play on Sept. 19).
“We had some scrimmages against a couple Division I opponents, and I think we did pretty well, so I think we’re in pretty good position. But until that first serve comes, you really don’t know.”
The Belles must replace setter Laney Dale, who had a team-high 763 assists, and outside hitter Hannah Kinnison, who had a team-high 423 kills.
They bring back their next two biggest hitters from last year, Evelyn Torres (296 kills) and Madi Parrish (248 kills).
Parrish and Torres were also third and fourth in digs with 242 and 238, respectively.
Caleigh Enax returns after anchoring ASU’s defense with a team-high 500 digs.
Cate Boldrick is also back after recording 60 blocks, which was third-best on the team last year.
After this weekend’s matches, ASU will embark on an 11-match road trip and won’t play on its home court again until Oct. 11 against Texas A&M International.
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