STEPHENVILLE - Tarleton State (13-10, 7-4) put up a valiant effort, but couldn't overcome No. 17 Angelo State's strong front line, who landed 32-percent of their attacks and had 10 total blocks in the sweep.

The Rambelles improved to 22-2, 11-1 and are a half game behind West Texas A&M for first place in the Lone Star Conference. WT's only loss came at the hands of Tarleton on Sept. 17.

Angelo opened the match with an immediate 6-0 run, and pushed it to 7-1 before Flynn Harrell landed a kill.

Tarleton made a push to get the score within three at 8-11, but Angelo answered with a 5-1 run to extended its Volleyball vs Angelo State Gallery

lead.

Junior Nikki McNorton ended the brief Angelo run with a kill that started a quick 5-1 run for the TexAnns to force an ASU timeout and make the score 17-14 Angelo.

Out of the break, the Belles answered with the decisive 8-3 run to take the set 25-17.

In the second set, Audra Vaello got the TexAnns started with a quick kill off a set from Jessie Hartman.

The teams traded the first 10 points to start at 5-5 before Angelo broke free on a 12-2 run which saw six TexAnn miscues.

Tarleton cut the deficit to five at 14-19 but couldn't get closer as Angelo took the set 25-17.

The TexAnns kept the first set close over the first 17 points, trailing just 8-9.

The Belles responded with seven straight to take a fast 16-8 lead.

Tarleton answered with four straight kills by Stacie Murrah, McNorton and two from Harrell to cut the Angelo lead to 17-12.

The five-point deficit is as close as Tarleton would get as ASU cruised to a 25-17 win.

Harrell and McNorton led the TexAnns in kills with nine and eight, respectively, as Tarleton only managed a .118 hit percentage and Angelo racked up 10 blocks.

Hartman led the TexAnns with 14 assists while Danielle Barker had 12. Hartman, currently the all-time assist leader in Tarleton history, will attempt more TexAnn history when she looks to become the first Tarleton player in history with 3,000 career assists. See TarletonSports.com in coming days for more information.

Tarleton wraps up its five-game home stand Saturday at 2 p.m. for Pink Out. A prize will be given to the fan wearing the most pink and Delta Zeta will be selling pink merchandise in support of the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

For more information about TexAnn volleyball, visit TarletonSports.com.