CANYON, Texas - A season that started with a flourish came crashing down Thursday afternoon in the opening round of the Lone Star Conference Championship at the West Texas A&M Fieldhouse.
 
No. 18 Angelo State rolled to a straight-set 25-18, 25-16, 25-14 victory to oust Midwestern State which closed the season with a 15-16 mark.
 
The Rambelles move on to Friday's semifinal round and will face Abilene Christian, a 3-2 winner over Cameron earlier in the afternoon.
 
MSU senior Hillary White delivered an admirable performance with 11 kills while hitting .346, but the Mustangs struggled to muster much more on the attack as junior outside hitter Shelbi Stewart had eight kills and freshman Katie Bertling added five more.
 
The defensive-strong Rambelles limited Midwestern to a .153 team hitting percentage and limited the touches for MSU active kills and attack percentage leader Caitlin Wallace as the sophomore middle blocker ended the match with two kills on just six attacks.
 
The Mustangs rolled out to a 14-11 lead in the opening set after White and Bertling combined on one of the team's five total blocks for the match.
 
Then Angelo State rode the service game of Maddie Huth to seven consecutive points before Shelby Wilt close out the frame with consecutive service aces.
 
Midwestern State could only manage early single-point leads in the final two sets as Angelo State rolled on to a 29-4 record.
 
Kaelen Valdez led the Angelo State attack with 13 kills while Huth close with nine to pace the 'Belles to a .257 team hitting percentage.
 
MSU senior Kiara Jordan closed out her stellar career with a match-high 17 digs. The two-time LSC Libero of the Year closes the season with a school record 687 digs and ranks second in career digs at 1,936.
 
The Mustangs opened the season with a straight-set win over No. 20 Truman (Mo.) and got off to a 6-1 start in what proved to be a roller coaster campaign.
 
The team experienced consecutive streaks of five losses, six wins, three losses and three wins before finishing the season with seven consecutive defeats.
 
The Mustangs battled through several injuries to key players including a season-ending blow for senior team leader Miranda Byrd. The All-LSC first-team performer missed the last seven games after becoming just the seventh player in school history to record 1,000 career kills.