Belles spike back

Photo by Marsalis Mahome
The Belles celebrate after winning a difficult rally. The Belles are currently sitting fifth in the conference.

Belle Volleyball defeated Texas Woman’s University 3-1 earning its second straight win on Oct. 21.

The sets came down to 25-20, 23-25, 25-22 and 26-24.

The win put the Belles 15-6 on their overall record and 7-5 in the Lone Star Conference play.

The team held TWU to a .113 hitting percentage and was led by outside hitter Brianna Sotello who had 18 kills and 14 digs for her 11th double-double of the season.

The points were close in the first set until senior middle blocker Morgan Seaton came up with a 4-0 run.

Seaton lead the team with a .318 hitting percentage

After Seaton’s lead, the Belles never allowed the Pioneers closer than two points

Head Coach Chuck Waddington said he loved that they got to play in front of a great crowd this weekend.

"We were trying to start the second half of conference play on the right foot and I think we have" Waddington said.

Waddington said their big focus is to match the energy of the other teams they are playing. "We’re trying to do that on a consistent basis," Waddington said.

Waddington thought the team did a good job of that on Friday’s game against Texas A&M-Commerce but not so much in this game against TWU.

"We spent a lot of energy doing that yesterday (Oct. 20) so we have to be ready for that," Waddington said.

Waddington said he thought they did a nice job of playing important points really well.

"We worked hard to defend and extend rallies and that’s something we have not been doing up to this point in the year," Waddington said. "So we do that, extend those rallies, and we give ourselves chances to win."

Sotello said they have been really focusing on their side of the ball.

"Working on our side of the ball and being a team and bringing energy, I think we lack that a lot," Sotello said.

Sotello said they had a lead in a lot of the games and thinks they took it for granted.

"I think we needed to take it and run away with it because I felt like we played like we were the better team," Sotello said.

Sotello said the other team pushed back and it really showed them what we had to do and just to pull out in the end.

Waddington said they need to stay strong and be confident in what they are doing.

"Just be confident and fight for a play," Waddington said.

The Belles will compete against West Texas A&M University on Oct. 27 and University of Texas of the Permian Basin on Oct. 28; all away games.

The team will be back at home on Oct. 31 facing Texas A&M University-Kingsville.