SAN ANGELO – The No. 17-ranked Angelo State volleyball team will play its final home match of the season at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in a non-conference contest against Incarnate Word in the Junell Center.

The Belles (20-7) are 12-1 at home this season and 23-1 inside the Junell Center in regular-season matches the past two seasons. ASU earned a 3-1 (25-17, 14-25, 25-21, 25-23) over UIW in a Sept. 27 meeting in San Antonio earlier this season.

ASU is the top defensive team in the nation with 21.26 digs per set, and leads the Lone Star Conference with 12.94 assists per set and 13.83 kills per set. The Belles are fourth in the LSC with a .194 hitting percentage and second with a 1.25 aces per set team average.

Angelo State will conclude its regular season with a noon match on Saturday against Tarleton State in Stephenville. The LSC Volleyball Championship will take place next week in Canyon with West Texas A&M (25-3, 14-0 LSC) already securing the regular-season title. ASU is currently second in the standings with an 11-4 conference record, while Texas Woman's is third with a 10-4 LSC record and matches against WT and Eastern New Mexico.

REGIONAL RANKING
The Belles slipped to No. 3 in the NCAA Division II South Central rankings after dropping their match to WT last Friday. ASU is behind No. 1 Colorado School of Mines and West Texas A&M in the rankings. The team has a 19-4 in-region record coming into the final week of the regular season.
 
BELLE PLAYER SUMMARIES
Maddie Huth continues to lead the Belles with 313 kills this season (3.19 per set) and 91 blocks in her senior season. Huth, who is a three-time LSC Offensive Player of the Week and a reigning AVCA All-American, was named to the Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-District 6 team last week along with teammates Shelby Wilt and Katie MacLeay. Huth has a .260 hitting percentage this season for the Belles and comes into Wednesday's match with 1,070 kills and 363 blocks in her career at ASU. She is currently fifth in the LSC with her 3.19 kills per set average and sixth in the conference in blocking average.

Wilt is the all-time digs leader in program history with 1,719 digs in 99 career matches played for the Belles and has contributed 485 digs in her junior season. Wilt is averaging 4.90 digs per set this season and is third in the LSC with her 4.90 dig per set average. She also has 24 aces. MacLeay, a sophomore defensive specialist leads the Belles with 25 aces and has also provided 313 digs (3.16 per set). Staying on the defensive side of the net, senior Kaelen Valdez has 338 digs (3.60 per set) and sophomore Haley Bianco has 282 (2.94 per set). MacLeay is ninth in the LSC with her 25 aces.

Junior setter Maggi Jo Keffury is a five-time LSC Setter of the Week this season and comes into the final week of the regular season with 1,072 assists (11.17 per set). The California native played her first two seasons at New Mexico State before transferring to ASU this season. She has also provided 259 digs this season and ranks second in the LSC with her assists per set average behind only A&M-Commerce's Jordan Neal who has 11.60 assists per set.

Valdez enters the final week of regular-season matches in her career with 967 kills and 1,468 digs. She is currently fourth in program history in digs and is ninth in the LSC with her digs per set average this season.

Sophomore outside hitter Arielle Bond is coming off a strong weekend of play against WT and ENMU where she had 13 kills in each match. The El Paso native is second on the team this season with 275 kills (3.06 per set) and has also provided 31 blocks. Freshman Courtney Bartusiak is second on the team with 173 kills and leads the team with a .280 hitting percentage. Bartusiak is sixth in the LSC with her hitting percentage, while Huth is eighth with her .260 percentage.

Valdez led the Belles in the first match against UIW with 15 kills and 12 digs, while Huth had 12 kills and 12 blocks. Keffury supplied 42 assists and 13 digs in the four-set match.
 

COACH QUOTES

Head coach Chuck Waddington (Sixth season at Angelo State, 138-59 record)

On playing home matches at the Junell Center:
"It is an advantage to play here for us. The size of the arena and the way the crowd interacts throughout the match is unlike most places. It's a challenging place for other teams to come into play at. It's a different feel for them and the fans are into every point. It's a fun environment for us to play in."

On it being the final home match for seniors Maddie Huth, Kaelen Valdez and Leah McWilliams:
"We had our Senior Night a week ago, but I'm sure they'll feel an emotional tug because they have gotten to know a lot of these fans personally. There's a bond there."

On the challenge of playing against Incarnate Word:
"They play every point really hard. They swing hard, defend well and serve tough. We've got to be ready to compete against them."

 
Angelo State vs. Incarnate Word Cardinals

Lone Star Conference opponents the last three seasons, the Belles will meet the Incarnate Word Cardinals for the second of two non-conference matches this season on Wednesday. UIW exited to Division I and the Southland Conference and are coming off a sweep of Abilene Christian last Saturday in San Antonio. The Cardinals enter the match with a 12-11 record and will conclude their season with a doubleheader against ACU and Grand Canyon on Nov. 23 in Phoenix.

UIW maintains a 5-5 conference record in its first season in the Southland. Angelique Vidaurri leads the team with 259 kills this season (2.98 per set) with Brittani Dear leading in the digs category with 291 (3.46 per set). Danielle Suarez has 498 assists and Taylor McClelland 376 for the Cardinals. As a team, UIW is hitting .189 this season with 502 attacking errors through 23 matches.

High school connections between Angelo State and UIW include; Kaelen Valdez and Sarah Cardenas, Meaghan Patterson, Kristin Fording, Elizabeth Soukup (San Antonio O'Connor).

ASU enjoys a 15-5 all-time record over the Cardinals, including earning three sweeps last season with the addition of a postseason opening-round win at the LSC Championship at the Junell Center. UIW finished last season with a 10-21 record and a 7-13 mark in the conference.