SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State volleyball team returns to action at 7 p.m. on Tuesday against Incarnate Word in the Belles' annual Dig Pink match at the Junell Center.
The 9th-ranked Belles (19-3, 12-1 Lone Star Conference) come into the match on a six-match winning streak and have also won 14 of their last 15. ASU, which remains atop the LSC standings, is 8-0 at home this season with three more regular-season home matches remaining on its schedule. The team has dropped only two sets in those eight home matches, and is coming off a sweep of Abilene Christian last Friday on the Stephens Arena court.
“I thought we did a lot better in our serving game against Abilene Christian,” ASU head coach
Chuck Waddington said. “We were second to last in the conference in aces per game and have been making our job harder than it has to be. When we serve better we make it easier on our defense. I liked the way we ramped up our service game against Abilene Christian and hope that continues.”
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Live Stats Video
Angelo State leads the conference in opponents hitting percentage (.117), assists (13.88 per set), kills (14.55 per set) and digs (20.21 per). ASU ranks fourth in the nation in digs per set, fifth in assists and sixth in kills per set. (14.55).
Shelbi Goode leads ASU and the conference with 3.85 kills per set and has 281 kills through the first 22 matches this season.
Alex Woolsey has 868 assists to lead the team and the LSC with 11.89 assists per set and is sixth nationally, while
Shelby Wilt is fourth in the conference with 4.96 digs per set and leads ASU with 372 digs this season.
Maddie Huth is fifth in the LSC with 71 blocks and has added 190 kills, while
Kaelen Valdez and
Chelsea Gibson have added 187 and 163 kills, respectively.
Incarnate Word (8-14, 5-8 LSC) comes into the match off a 3-1 win over Midwestern State which snapped a four-match losing streak. UIW has two conference wins over MSU along with victories over Abilene Christian, Eastern New Mexico and Cameron. The Cardinals are hitting at a .159 percentage this season and are allowing opponents to hit at a .189 clip. Angelique Vidaurri leads UIW with 191 kills this season, while Danielle Suarez has 429 assists and Lydia Werchan has 404 digs.
“Traditionally, Incarnate Word is always a very scrappy team,” Waddington said. “They play a really strong defense and do a great job of keeping the ball in play. They force you to earn every point. We can't get frustrated when they digs balls that are usually points for us. We have to keep our heads about us and have great patience through each point.”
The Belles will complete their four-match home stand with a pair of matches this weekend at the Junell Center. ASU hosts West Texas A&M (19-3, 10-2 LSC) at 7 p.m. on Friday before welcoming Eastern New Mexico (6-16, 1-11 LSC) for a 2 p.m. match on Saturday. The match against ENMU is the regular-season home finale and the Belles will honor
Emily Booth,
Katie Coleman,
Chelsea Gibson,
Alisa Meredith and
Alex Woolsey before the Senior Day match.
About Dig Pink
Dig Pink is a national breast cancer awareness initiative started by the Side-Out Foundation and held annually during the month of October. This season, the Side-Out Foundation set a monetary goal of $2.5 million as well as a participation goal of 500 collegiate and 1,000 scholastic programs.
The Side-Out Foundation is a support and advocacy organization dedicated to making a significant and identifiable difference in the lives of breast cancer patients and their families by supporting clinical trials, increasing compassionate support services and educating communities.
“It helps brings awareness to an issue that affects everyone out there,” Waddington said. “It may not be them directly, but it can be someone they know or someone in their family. Awareness is half the battle and we also helping raise some money to donate. It brings it to the forefront of our kid's minds and gives them a chance to give back by helping a very important cause.”
Go to
www.asuvolleyball.com for more information.
Milestone watch: Alex Woolsey continues to track down Amber Nelson's all-time career assist record and is now only 227 assists away from the record… Woolsey has 868 assists this season and needs to average 32.4 assists per match in the final seven regular season matches to break the record before the postseason… The senior from Plano is averaging 39.45 assists per match this season…
Shelby Wilt leads the team in digs again this season and is only 43 digs away from 1,000 in her career…
Emily Booth has 80 kills this season and needs to record 20 more to reach 400 in her career at ASU… With four kills last Friday,
Katie Coleman is now at 403 kills for her career and also has 305 career blocks…
Maddie Huth needs 40 more kills to reach 600 kills for her career, while
Kaelen Valdez is 53 kills away from 800… Valdez is also only 51 digs away from 1,000 in her career.
