SAN ANGELO – The No. 17-ranked Angelo State volleyball team completes its regular season with a Lone Star Conference noon match on Saturday against Tarleton State at Wisdom Gym in Stephenville.

The Belles (21-7, 11-4 LSC) enter final regular-season match of the season on a two-match winning streak which includes a non-conference sweep of Incarnate Word on Wednesday in their home finale. ASU is 4-3 away from San Angelo this season in conference action and lead the nation with 21.29 digs per set. The TexAnns  are 14-13, 7-8 LSC entering the match.

ASU also leads the LSC with 13.83 kills per set and 12.97 assists per set. The Belles are fourth with a .189 team hitting percentage and second defensively by limiting teams to a .127 hitting percentage and third with 1.25 aces per set.
 
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. ASU was ranked No.1 in the initial regional rankings.
 
BELLE PLAYER SUMMARIES
Maddie Huth continues to lead the Belles with 323 kills this season (3.20 per set) and 99 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 .261 hitting percentage this season for the Belles and comes into the regular-season finale with 1,080 kills and 371 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. Huth, who will be playing in her 129th career match on Saturday, is 28 kills away from passing Chelsea Gibson for ninth all-time in career kills at ASU and is two blocks away from passing Frances Williams (1985-87) for fourth all-time in blocks.

Wilt is the all-time digs leader in program history with 1,732 digs in 100 career matches played for the Belles and has contributed 498 digs in her junior season. Wilt is averaging 4.88 digs per set this season and is third in the LSC in that statistic. She also has 24 aces and led the team with 26 digs in the first meeting of the season against the TexAnns. MacLeay, a sophomore defensive specialist leads the Belles with 27 aces and has also provided 325 digs (3.16 per set). She had two aces in the ASU win over UIW on Wednesday. Staying on the defensive side of the net, senior Kaelen Valdez has 352 digs (3.63 per set) and sophomore Haley Bianco has 291 (2.94 per set). MacLeay is ninth in the LSC with her 27 aces. Bianco has 526 career digs with MacLeay at 691 career digs in their two seasons.

Junior setter Maggi Jo Keffury is a five-time LSC Setter of the Week this season and comes into the final match of the season with 1,112 assists (11.23 per set). The California native played her first two collegiate seasons at New Mexico State before transferring to ASU this season. She has also provided 268 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 regular season match in her career with 971 kills and 1,482 digs. She is currently fourth in program history in digs and is ninth in the LSC with her digs per set average this season. Valdez will be playing in her 122 career match on Saturday.

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 and continued that strong production with 10 kills in ASU's three-set win over UIW on Wednesday. The El Paso native is second on the team this season with 285 kills (3.06 per set) and has also provided 32 blocks. Freshman Courtney Bartusiak is second on the team with 178 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 .261 percentage.

Senior Leah McWilliams has been unable to play the past couple of weeks due to injury, but has provided 154 kills this season. She had a team-high 14 kills in the first meeting against the TexAnns with Huth and Bond adding eight kills each.
 

COACH QUOTES

Head coach Chuck Waddington (Sixth season at Angelo State, 139-59 record)
On travelling to play Tarleton State in the regular-season finale:
"I want to see us continue winning the serve and pass battle and competing for every point. We can't take anything for granted. We are going into a hostile environment on Saturday. It's a place that is hard to win at and I want to see our team respond to that."

On playing against the TexAnns:
"Tarleton is probably the most athletic team in the conference like they usually are. They play with a lot of emotion and passion and we have to work hard to get them out of their groove early. If we can do that, I think we will be all right."
 
Tarleton State TexAnns

Angelo State is 33-10 all-time against the TexAnns and have won 10 straight matches against TSU coming into Saturday's regular-season finale.

The TexAnns (14-13, 7-8 LSC) are 6-3 at home this season, but enter the match on a three-match losing streak with road losses to Eastern New Mexico, West Texas A&M and Texas A&M-Commerce. Stacie Murrah leads TSU this season with 352 kills (3.42 per set), while setter Danielle Barker has 1,120 assists (10.87 per set). Jazmine Green has added 238 kills for offensive production with Jasmyne Brown leading the team with 71 blocks and Emily Klein steadying the defense with 556 digs (5.40 per set).

Tarleton State is second in the LSC with 18.87 digs per set and fifth with 13.28 kills per set.
 
HIGH SCHOOL CONNECTIONS

Angelo State's Kaelen Valdez and TSU's Meg Umbel and Stacie Murrah each went to San Antonio O'Connor; ASU's Katie MacLeay and TSU's Ashley Rine and Marissa Brine are graduates of San Antonio Brandeis.
 
UP NEXT: The Angelo State volleyball team will travel to Canyon next week to play in the Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championship being hosted by West Texas A&M. The tournament will start on Thursday. Seeding for the tournament will not be complete until after this weekend's action. The Belles are currently second in the conference.