SAN ANGELO – Beating West Texas A&M and winning a Lone Star Conference championship have been goals eluding the Angelo State volleyball team in its resurgence the past five years. A win Friday night can cross one of those goals off the dwindling list of accomplishments and put the Belles one step closer to claiming their first conference crown in 20 seasons.
The No. 9 Belles (20-3, 13-1 LSC) host the 11th-ranked Lady Buffs (20-3, 11-2 LSC) at 7 p.m. on Friday at the Junell Center and are looking for their first win over WT since 2004 – a string of 15 straight losses that includes a 3-2 (25-23, 25-13, 19-25, 23-25, 15-13) defeat on Sept. 29 in Canyon. ASU is currently in first place in the LSC standings with Tarleton State and West Texas A&M lurking right behind. A victory over WT would mean a lot for the program, but with five matches following Friday's match, there would still be work to be done.
The task at hand though is the match that has been circled since the schedule was released and the Belles are not backing down from the mindset that West Texas A&M does not own them.
“The most important thing is to not let them get into our head,” ASU junior
Maddie Huth said. “We've always known that West Texas is our big rival, and we have played towards that. It gets into our minds and we back down to them. We have to stand up for ourselves. Confidence is really important.”
Angelo State, which will host Eastern New Mexico at 2 p.m. on Saturday in the regular season finale and Senior Day, enters the WT match with a seven-match winning streak and having won 15 of its last 16 – the lone blemish coming in Canyon. ASU is the higher ranked team in the matchup for the first time but WT is in the midst of another of its traditionally strong seasons. The Lady Buffs have won seven of their last eight matches and have wins this season over No. 5 Central Missouri and No. 3 Tampa.
ASU and WT have team hitting percentages of .240 and .259, respectively, and have each held opponents to under a .120 percentage.
“They are very similar to us,” Waddington said. “We play a very similar style of volleyball with both of us depending on our middles and outsides. We have to defend as best as we can. I don't have to motivate our girls to play this match. I just want us to play our style of volleyball and if we can do what we try to do every time we step on the court then I like our chances against anybody.”
Alex Woolsey leads the Belles offense with 900 assists this season and has added 228 digs on the defensive side of the court.
Shelbi Goode tops the team with 289 kills with
Maddie Huth adding 200 kills and
Kaelen Valdez another 197.
Shelby Wilt leads ASU with 383 digs with Valdez contributing another 275, while Huth leads the block department with 76.
Chelsea Gibson has added 163 kills and freshmen
Katie MacLeay and
Haley Bianco have tallied 210 and 133 digs, respectively. Woolsey is currently sixth in the nation in assists per set (11.89) and the Belles are fourth in the nation in digs with 20.21 per set.
ASU, which is also sixth nationally with 14.55 kills per set, is hitting at a .214 percentage through its seven-match winning streak and at a .245 mark throughout conference play. The team battled back from a 2-0 hole at WT in the first match and have steadily been improving offensively and defensively.
“We did a pretty good job of handling the ball in the first match and we've continued working on that,” Goode said. “I think we'll come out on Friday and serve tougher and work on digging to transition and killing. Last time it was a good match and we have to keep the same intensity.”
WT has won the conference championship the last six seasons and has beat the Belles in the past two LSC Championship finals. The Lady Buffs are 5-1 on the road this season, including a five-set loss to Tarleton State in their first conference loss of the season. Abilene Christian got to the Lady Buffs on Oct. 13 with a sweep at Moody Coliseum to account for their two losses. WT is 16-1 in three-set matches and 2-1 in five-set affairs.
Halie Horton leads the Lady Buffs with 262 kills (.232 per set), while Lacy Hayes has 910 assists this season. Lauren Beville has 387 digs and Erin Dougherty is 14th in the nation with 105 blocks (1.35 per set). WT is out digging opponents at a 16.71-14.74 per set mark and is coming off two sweeps of Texas A&M-Commerce and Cameron.
Angelo State leads the conference in opponents hitting percentage (.110), assists (13.87 per set), kills (14.56 per set) and digs (20.38 per). WT leads the conference in hitting percentage.
Additional Quotes
Chuck Waddington // ASU head coach
“We have great senior leaders who have been through a lot,” Waddington said. “They have spent a lot of time on the court the past four years. They have experiences that have made them stronger and they are sharing those experiences with their teammates. We have some freshman and sophomores who are playing and their leadership is the key. They have a good grasp of what it takes to win and what it takes to get through a conference grind.”
“I like the direction that we are heading,” Waddington said. “I feel like we are building and growing right now. This is a great weekend to test that and see how far we've come.”
Milestone watch: Alex Woolsey continues to track down Amber Nelson's all-time career assist record and is now only 195 assists away from the record… Woolsey has 900 assists this season with five matches to play... 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 32 digs away from 1,000 in her career.
