SAN ANGELO – Maddie Huth delivered 10 kills and
Kaelen Valdez 14 digs in the final home match of their career to help lead the Angelo State volleyball team to a non-conference sweep of Incarnate Word on Wednesday at the Junell Center.
The No. 17 Belles (21-7) moved to 13-1 at home this season in their Junell Center finale and will now play at noon on Saturday against Tarleton State in their regular-season finale in Stephenville. The Belles have gone 46-8 at home in the four seasons Huth and Valdez played at ASU.
"They are the heart and soul of our program," ASU head coach
Chuck Waddington said. "I really don't think we achieve what we've achieved the past seasons and this one without either one of them. We have a lot of matches still to come, but we're definitely going to miss those two when this season ends."
If the Belles continue playing like they did on Wednesday, the season is far from over. ASU quickly dispatched the Cardinals (12-12) by limiting them to a .008 hitting percentage and forcing 26 errors. The Belles, on the other hand, committed only 15 errors in their 12th sweep of the season and completed the series sweep of UIW after also earning a win over them earlier in the season in San Antonio.
Arielle Bond and
Cerbi Ritchey matched Huth on the night for the team lead with 10 kills. Bond had a .308 hitting percentage a day after being named the Lone Star Conference's Offensive Player of the Week for her performances last weekend against West Texas A&M and Eastern New Mexico. Huth finished the match with five blocks with setter
Maggi Jo Keffury providing 40 assists and nine digs.
Shelby Wilt added 13 digs and
Katie MacLeay 12 digs for the Belles defensively, while
Courtney Bartusiak recorded five kills.
"The first set was a little sloppy for us and they were able to block a lot of balls," Waddington said. "We weren't protecting each other, but we made a coverage adjustment to make sure if they blocked us that it didn't hit the court. We did a great job of that in the second and third set and played a great match. We dictated what was going on."
Huth now has 1,080 kills and 371 blocks in her four-year career at ASU, while Valdez has 971 career kills and is fourth in program history with 1,482 digs. Fellow senior
Leah McWilliams, who played her first two seasons at Alaska-Anchorage, was unable to play on Wednesday due to injury.
ASU outblocked the Cardinals 10-8 in the match and had a 67-52 dig advantage.
Shaina Garza and Angelique Vidaurri led UIW with eight kills each, while Sarah Cardenas had 14 digs.
