DENTON, Texas – After winning the first two sets Friday night against Lone Star Conference rival Angelo State, Texas Woman's found themselves fighting off the Belles, eventually taking them in five, 25-22, 25-19, 16-25, 19-25, 15-9.

Competition was stiff in the first set with both TWU (14-8, 6-6 LSC) and ASU (17-5, 10-2 LSC) playing in top form, keeping errors to a minimum and maintaining a strong defense. Junior Maggie Pyles took control of Pioneer attack, leading the offense against the Belles and giving TWU the edge they needed to take the first set, 25-22.

"Our kids are starting to really figure it out," TWU head coach Jeff Huebner said. "We're still really young, but I think that our decision-making has continuously improved."

The Pioneers kept up the momentum in the second set by battering the Belles with attacks and taking advantage of the visiting team's increased errors. Freshman Taylor Frederick found the gaps in the Angelo State defense, rising to a .462 hitting percentage and helping the Pioneers to an even stronger win, ending the set 25-19.                                                                                                                        

The Belles recovered in the third though, completely turning around their hitting percent from -.024 to .371 and snatching the sweep from the Pioneers. TWU spent most of the set trailing ASU by less than four points, but struggled towards the end of the set, allowing the Belles a six-point run before falling 16-25. 

The Pioneers started the fourth set in even worse condition before subbing in freshmen Isabel Vega and Andrea Grimm, both helping to provide a much needed seven-point run that closed the gap some, but not enough to prevent ASU from taking the set, 21-25.

"For the way that we started the fourth set, the resiliency of our kids who came into the match was critically important because they changed the scope of the match," Huebner said. "Even though we lost the fourth it was much better, and that matters."

Texas Woman's tried to stay unpredictable in the fifth set, preventing Angelo State from setting up the defense it had strengthened in earlier sets. Juniors Courtney Noel and Caroline Noel took turns knocking back kills all over the court in the first half of the set, and a strong service run by Courtney Noel took the Pioneers all the way to set point, where Caroline Noel drove the final kill, ending the set 15-9 and giving final victory to Texas Woman's.

"Courtney served very well," Huebner said "She hit .400 and Caroline hit .500. There's eight kills between the two of them, and that's eight of our ten," Huebner said. "They were incredible. I cannot complain about the Noel family."

The Pioneers ended the match with a .234 hitting percentage to the Belles' .191, with both teams' overall side out percentage staying nearly even - 58.8 for TWU and 58 for ASU. 

"For us, the big game is side out percentage," Huebner said. "We continue to do a really good job winning the side out percentage in really critical sets. In the first, second and fifth, we were over 60 percent."

Pyles topped the leaderboard on attacks with 52, bringing in 14 kills. Frederick led the Pioneers on kills with 17, and LSC digs-leader Bailey French notched another 34 for her total, with freshman Kenna Muff coming in second at 21.

"Nineteen hitting errors in a five-set matchup is a really good job," Huebner added.  "Our blocking has improved a lot.  Again, the defense is where we win games."

Texas Woman's will face #15 Tarleton State (19-2, 11-0 LSC) at 2 p.m. on Saturday.