SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State volleyball team opens the NCAA Division II South Central Championship at noon on Thursday against conference foe Texas Woman's University at the WTAMU Fieldhouse.

"We really need to focus on playing our hearts out," ASU senior Maddie Huth said. "Heart and passion for the game is really important for us in these matches. If you want to win, you have to play hard all the time along with playing with skill. We have experience in regionals and we understand what it takes."

The No. 20-ranked Belles (23-9) are making their program-best third consecutive regional appearance and are 2-1 against TWU (22-10) this season after earning a five-set win over them in the semifinals of the Lone Star Conference Championships two weeks ago in Canyon. ASU and TWU have never met in NCAA postseason play.

"I feel like we're playing at a really high level right now," ASU head coach Chuck Waddington said. "We are handling a lot of balls and are working really hard in transition. We need that to continue this weekend."

Angelo State, which is the third seed in the tournament and leads the nation with 20.93 digs per set, will be joined at the tournament by No. 1 West Texas A&M (31-3), No. 2 Colorado School of Mines (24-6), No. 4 Regis (17-12), No. 5 Metro State (20-10), No. 6 TWU (22-10), No. 7 Western New Mexico (23-6) and No. 8 Dallas Baptist (18-15). The Belles are 4-4 against the South Central field, with wins over Metro State and Dallas Baptist and a 0-3 record against WT.

"They are a very talented offensive team," said Waddington of the first-round match against TWU. "They're not a one-dimensional team and have multiple ways of hurting you. Being able to defend their versatility is a challenge that we're going to have to be ready for."

A win over TWU would advance the Belles to the semifinals against the winner of the NO. 2 Colorado School of Mines-No. 7 Western New Mexico match. The semifinal match is set for 5 p.m. on Friday, while the Championship match is at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

The winner of the South Central tournament will advance to the NCAA Division II Championship which is being hosted in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at the U.S. Cellular Center.

ASU advanced to the 2012 NCAA Division II South Central finals last season for the first time in program history in Denver, Colo. after beating Adams State in the quarterfinals and Regis University in the semifinals. The Belles fell to WT in four sets in the finals. This will be the third NCAA DII South Central Championship for Huth, Kaelen Valdez, Shelby Wilt and Leah McWilliams and the second for sophomores Haley Bianco, Arielle Bond, Katie MacLeay and Kailyn Troxell. Junior setter Maggi Jo Keffury has postseason experience after playing in the NCAA Division I tournament last season for New Mexico State against BYU in Provo, Utah. This year's tournament will be the first NCAA experience for redshirt freshman Cerbi Ritchey and freshmen Courtney Bartusiak, Zoey Hanrahan and Klohe Harrion.

"I hope that our players who have been here before can pass on the experience to the younger kids," Waddington said. "It's an exciting opportunity for us, but we have to remain calm and take care of business when it's time."

Angelo State is 5-7 all-time in NCAA tournament play, but is 3-2 in the past two seasons. The Belles have played in two regional tournaments which were hosted by West Texas A&M, but this is the first time the team will play at "The Box" in NCAA play. ASU played in the 1991 and 1992 regional tournaments with the 1991 tournament being played at Tascosa High School and the 1992 tournament at the Amarillo Civic Center.

ASU comes into the regional tournament after advancing to the LSC finals for the fourth consecutive season after a quarterfinals win over Midwestern State and the five-set semifinal win over Texas Woman's. The Belles met WT in the finals for a five-set championship match in which they lost with the final set at 16-14 in favor of the Lady Buffs.

BELLE PLAYER SUMMARY

Huth enters the regional tournament after an all-tournament performance two weeks ago in the LSC Championships and a senior season where she earned LSC Co-Offensive Player of the Year. Huth, who was named to the Daktronics South Central first team, leads the Belles with 385 kills (3.21 per set) and 121 blocks this season after providing a season-high 22 kills against West Texas A&M in the finals of the LSC tournament. She has a combined 37 kills and eight blocks against TWU in the three meetings this season. She enters her third regional tournament with 1,142 career kills and 393 career blocks. The Colony native is currently seventh in program history in kills and third all-time in blocks and is a reigning all-American.

Kaelen Valdez is also playing in her third NCAA DII tournament and enters regional play third all-time in program history with 1,571 digs and 12th in program history with 1,017 kills. Valdez needs only 32 digs to pass Jennifer Glass's 1,603 digs which was the program record before Shelby Wilt surpassed her for the all-time record this season. Valdez went over 1,000 kills for her career at the conference tournament and was named to the all-tournament team after having 28 digs and 13 kills in the finals. She has 441 digs this season (3.80 per set) and 169 kills for the Belles. She is averaging 4.00 digs per set (48 total digs) in the three matches this season against TWU.

Wilt leads the Belles with 568 digs (4.69 per set) and is the program's all-time digs leader with 1,802 digs in her first three seasons at ASU. The junior from Dalhart is also tied with Katie MacLeay for the team lead with 31 aces this season. She was named to the all-tournament team after providing 61 digs in the three LSC tournament matches after being named to the LSC second-team for her production throughout the season. Wilt, who was named to the Daktronics South Central second team, has three years of experience playing in the NCAA regional tournament along with Valdez and Huth.

Maggi Jo Keffury earned LSC first-team honors in her first season at ASU and enters the regional tournament with 1,325 assists (11.23 per set) and 314 digs for the Belles. Keffury has NCAA tournament experience playing for New Mexico State last season before transferring to Angelo State this season. She ranks 16th in the nation with her 11.23 assist per set. An Arroyo, Calif. native, she was named the LSC Setter of the Week five times this season and established a career-high with 59 assists in the finals against West Texas A&M.  She has seven matches this season where she had 50-plus assist performances.

"I think our chemistry is there right now," Keffury said. "We have to win the serve-and-pass battle each match. If we can stay strong in that area of the game we will be good."

Arielle Bond was named to the LSC second-team in her sophomore season and enters her second regional tournament with 345 kills (3.08 per set) this year. An El Paso native, Bond has also provided 42 blocks and 68 digs from the outside hitter position. She had 13 kills in the LSC finals against WT after providing 11 against TWU in the semifinals. She had a season-high 24 kills against Midwestern State on Sept. 20 and has 427 kills in her two years at ASU.  

MacLeay and Haley Bianco have turned in strong sophomore seasons at the defensive specialist positions and enter the regional tournament with a combined 732 digs this season. Bianco, who has 353 digs this season, is coming off a 22-dig performance against WT in the finals after supplying 17 digs in the semifinals against Texas Woman's. The Austin native has 18 double-digit dig performances this season, including a career-high 29 in a non-conference match earlier this season against Texas-Permian Basin. She has also provided 19 aces this season and 42 kills.

"We need to come together and help each player on the team play as hard as they can," Bianco said. "Our hype level really matters in these games. It's important for us to play as hard as we can throughout the entire match in this tournament and be there for each other."

MacLeay, who has 22 double-digit dig performances this season, is third on the team with 379 digs (3.13 per set) this season and has 745 digs in her career. Fellow sophomore Kailyn Troxell enters the tournament with 44 kills and 16 blocks.

Courtney Bartusiak, Cerbi Ritchey, Zoey Hanrahan and Klohe Harrion will be playing in their first NCAA tournament. Ritchey, who was redshirted last season, has 207 kills this season (1.99 per set) and 45 blocks. Ritchey leads ASU with a .241 hitting percentage against TWU in the three meetings this season. Bartusiak, a true freshman from Colorado, is fourth on the team with 201 kills and is second on the team with a .253 hitting percentage and 54 blocks. Leah McWilliams has missed the second half of the season with an injury, but has 154 kills (2.66 per set) and 16 blocks in her senior season. Hanrahan has 37 kills this season, including six kills in the first round of the LSC tournament against Midwestern State.

Belle Single-Match Highs
Blocks: 8 (2- 6) Maddie Huth vs. Southwest Minn. St. (Sep 14, 2013 in Denver, CO)
Attacking Percentage: .667 (13- 1-18) Courtney Bartusiak vs. CSU-Pueblo (Sep 06, 2013)
Kills 3-Set: 16 (16- 3-34) Leah McWilliams vs. Cameron (Sep 21, 2013)
Kills 4-Set: 16 (16-4-33) Maddie Huth vs. A&M-Commerce and West Texas A&M
Kills 5-Set: 24 (24- 5-55) Arielle Bond vs. Midwestern State (Sep 20, 2013)
Assists: 59 (5s) Maggi Jo Keffury vs. West Texas A&M (Nov. 23)
Digs: 32 (5s) Shelby Wilt vs. A&M-Commerce (Oct. 18, 2013)
Aces: 5 –  Haley Bianco vs. Eastern New Mexico (Nov. 9, 2013)

 
TEXAS WOMAN'S PIONEERS (22-10, 11-5 LSC)
Texas Woman's is making its third NCAA DII regional appearance in program history, but its first since 1997. The Pioneers are 22-10 this season and are 1-2 against the Belles after ASU took the five-set win in the LSC Championship semifinals. TWU has outblocked its opponents 327.5-190 this season and come into the regional tournament hitting .198 as a team and with 18 digs per set (2,296 total digs). They are 12-4 in three-set matches, 6-2 in four-sets and 4-4 in matches extending to a decisive fifth set.

Marcela Alves leads the Pioneers with 296 kills (2.60 per set) and 151 blocks. Josie Santos is adding 279 kills, Chloe' Tate 270 kills and Mallory Kuechle another 200 kills. Alves and Santos had 16 kills each against the Belles two weeks ago, while Tate led the Pioneers with nine block assists. Tate has 134 blocks entering the tournament with Kuechle leading the team with 255 digs. TWU uses a two-setter rotation with Kayla Rivero at 633 assists and Kimberly Bell at 592 assists to pace the offense. Santos is also a defensive presence with 60 blocks and 350 digs. Jaqueline Santos is third on the team with 86 blocks and also has 103 kills.

TWU outblocked the Belles 14-7 at the conference tournament and have a 40.5 to 18 blocking advantage in the three meetings this season. ASU is 31-13 all-time against TWU.