NCAA Division II South Central Regional

WARRENSBURG, Mo. – The Angelo State Belles (31-5) take on the Central Missouri Jennies (28-4) at 7:30 p.m. tonight in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II South Central Regional at the UCM Multipurpose Building.

Angelo State advanced to the semifinals with a 3-2 (25-23, 25-15, 21-25, 23-25, 15-13) win over St. Edward's University, while Central Missouri won a 3-2 (22-25, 21-25, 25-8, 25-14, 15-7) match against Abilene Christian. ASU moved to 10-0 in neutral court matches this season with the victory and improved to 5-4 in five-set affairs.

The winner of tonight's match plays at 7 p.m. on Saturday against the Washburn/West Texas A&M winner in the championship match and a berth to the national tournament. WTAMU and Washburn play tonight in the 5 p.m. semifinal match.

Central Missouri comes into the match as the nation's No. 6 ranked team after going through the regular season with 27-4 record, while ASU finished the regular season ranked No. 18. UCM is the No. 1 seed in the regional tournament and is riding a 10-game winning streak. The Jennies are 5-4 this season against ranked opponents and are 14-1 when playing on the Sport Court surface of the UCM Multipurpose Building.

“They are an extremely physical team that plays great defense,” ASU head coach Chuck Waddington said. “They are probably the biggest team that we've played all year. That size is going to present us some problems with their ability to block ability that we are going to have to overcome.”

The Belles, who are the fourth seed and have had winning streaks of 15 and eight matches, rebounded from their 3-0 loss to West Texas A&M in the Lone Star Conference championship match with the win over SEU. Central Missouri's winning streak started with a 3-2 win over Fort Hayes State where it trailed 2-0 and is bookended with last night's comeback win over Abilene Christian. The Jennies are 2-0 against LSC opponents with the win over ACU and a 3-0 victory over West Texas A&M on Oct. 1. Angelo State is 3-1 against MIAA opponents with wins over Missouri Western, Truman State, and Emporia State. The Belles' lone loss to a MIAA team came against Washburn which snapped a 15-0 start to the season.

Celeste Bonter led Angelo State with 20 kills against St. Edward's (363 kills this season) and Alex Woolsey added 56 assists and 33 digs. Woolsey now has 1,508 assists for the season, while Chelsea Gibson has 336 kills and Debbie Ohl 296 kills and 208 digs. Kaelen Valdez, who recorded her 18th kill against the Hilltoppers to win the match, has 271 kills this season. Shelby Wilt leads ASU with 564 digs and Kayla Smith has 421 going into tonight's match.

Allie Huffman (Lee's Summit, Mo.) leads the Jennies with 420 kills this season, while setter Julia Bates (Leavenworth, Kan.)  has recorded 1,233 assists and Taylor Krejci (Hickman, Neb.) 541 digs. Kelsey Ortwerth (Hannibal, Mo.) has added 417 digs and Harris (Conway Springs, Kan.) has 388 kills and 301 digs to her name.

“Our team played with a lot of heart and with a fighting spirit last night,” Waddington said. “We are going to have to do that again today. The team we are about to face is big and physical and very skilled. We are going to have to put our helmets on and get ready for another battle.”

The last time the Belles and Jennies met was in 2008 – Coach Waddington's first season – with UCM winning 3-0 (25-15, 25-12, 25-22). The Jennies hold a 13-2 advantage in the all-time series between the two universities. Waddington is now 89-45 after last night's win.

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Historical Perspective

Woolsey's assists total are the second-highest for a Rambelle in an individual season, trailing Jodi Cave's 1,700 helpers in 1992. Gibson also moved up in the career kills list in the match versus St. Edward's giving her 915 for her career and moving past Marci Sanders (912) and having a chance to catch Karen Broyles (930). Smith moved past Cel Bennett on the Belles' career dig list giving her a total of 1,042 - the eighth-highest total in the program's history.