SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State volleyball team begins the second half of Lone Star Conference play this weekend with a pair of road matches at Texas Woman's and Texas A&M-Commerce.

The Belles (12-3, 6-2 LSC) are currently second in the conference standings coming into Friday's 7 p.m. match against the Pioneers (10-7, 5-3 LSC) and a 2 p.m. match on Saturday against the Lions (3-14, 1-7 LSC). ASU earned wins over TWU and A&M-Commerce in the first meetings of the season. The Belles took a 3-1 (25-20, 25-15, 19-25, 25-19) win over TWU on Sept. 9 before taking a sweep (25-20, 25-20, 25-16) of the Lions last Tuesday.

"The second time through conference, the other teams are going to be prepared for what you do," ASU head coach Chuck Waddington said. "We have to be prepared for the changes that they're going to make to try to beat us. The difference is how we approach the match. We can't just go there and expect to win. We have to have a good game plan and execute it to get two wins."

ASU is coming off a weekend where it fell in straight sets at Tarleton State last Friday before bouncing back with a 3-1 non-conference victory over Newman on Saturday in Stephenville. The Belles are 6-2 overall and 3-2 in LSC play away from San Angelo this season.

West Texas A&M (16-3, 7-0 LSC) currently leads the LSC standings as the nine teams make the turn toward the second half of conference play.
 
Belle Roster Report
Shelby Wilt comes into this weekend's action with 2,132 career digs and has 270 digs this season (5.00 per set). Wilt is coming off a match against Newman where she provided 18 digs and also slid over to the setter position where she had a career-high 47 assists against Newman. A senior captain, Wilt has a season-high 28 digs against Arkansas Fort Smith and a career-high 41 digs against West Texas A&M in the 2012 season. She has recorded 14 double-digit dig performances this season and was named the LSC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.

Along with Wilt, the ASU defense remains one of the top units in the LSC with Katie MacLeay providing 175 digs (3.24 per set), Kelly Hasbrouck (142 digs, 2.90 per), Haley Bianco (105 digs, 2.39 per) and Alexa Johnson providing 104 digs (2.08 per). ASU is averaging 20.30 digs per set which is tops among LSC teams with Cameron second at 18.53 and Wilt is third in the conference with her digs per set average. Bianco has three straight double-digit dig performances going with 10 against A&M-Commerce and Tarleton State before contributing 12 in the win over Newman. MacLeay, who moved to libero with Wilt at setter, has nine double-digit dig totals with season-highs of 21 coming against UAFS at the start of the season and last Saturday against Newman. Johnson leads the Belles with 562 assists this season (11.24 per set) and has also contributed 20 blocks and 39 kills.

Mallory Blauser continues to lead the offensive attack with 210 kills this season which ranks fourth in the LSC. A sophomore from Round Rock, Blauser is averaging 4.04 kills per set and is coming off a season-high 29 kills against Newman where she hit .509. She has 11 double-digit kill performances this season and is hitting .208 this season. Abbie Lynn is second on the team with 144 kills this season and is hitting .241 in her freshman campaign. A left-handed hitter, Lynn has eight double-digit kill matches which includes a season-high 18 kills in a road win over Midwestern State. Her kills per set average ranks sixth in the conference. Zoey Hanrahan leads ASU with 41 blocks and has added 95 kills in her sophomore season, while fellow sophomore Arielle Bond has 86 kills and 20 blocks. Daeleigh Castile has added 63 kills and 33 blocks and Cerbi Ritchey has 55 kills and 47 digs.

The Belles are also getting production out of freshman Brianna Sotello who has 42 kills and saw Klohe Harrion set a career-high with six kills and five blocks last Saturday against Newman. A sophomore middle blocker from Arizona, Harrion had only four kills coming into the match.
 
Texas Woman's Pioneers (10-7, 5-3 LSC)
The Pioneers are coming off a five-set loss to West Texas A&M last Saturday where they held a 2-0 lead before a Lady Buff rally to take the match. TWU had won its previous two matches with wins over Henderson State and ENMU and is currently 4-1 at home this season.

Jaqueline Santos leads TWU with 183 kills and is averaging 2.73 per set, while Mallory Kuechle has 170 kills and Elizabeth Pennington is second in the LSC with 30 service aces. Morgan Wilson is second in the conference with 364 digs this season and is averaging 5.28 per set and Kuechle is second on the team with 199 digs. Santos is fourth in the LSC with 75 blocks and Pennington is seventh with 72 blocks.

Texas A&M-Commerce Lions (3-14, 1-7 LSC)
The Lions enter a Wednesday night non-conference match against St. Edward's on a five-match losing streak with losses coming to TWU, Texas A&M-Kingsville, ASU, WT, and ENMU. The Lions will host Tarleton State on Friday before the Belles arrive on Saturday.  

Amy Devault leads the A&M-Commerce attack with 275 kills (4.17 per set). Her total kills ranks first in the LSC and her kills per set is second. Veronika Baric has 110 kills for the Lions, while Ashley Mireles leads the defense with 293 digs (4.44 per set) and the Lion block is led by Delanee Clark's 35 blocks.

ASU possesses a 39-20 all-time advantage over the Lions. The Lions knocked off Tarleton State in the quarterfinals of the LSC Championships in Canyon and nearly pulled an upset against West Texas A&M in the semifinals. In the tournament, A&M-Commerce forced the Lady Buffs to five sets before WT claimed a 15-13 fifth-set win to advance to the finals. Craig Case is in his fifth season at A&M-Commerce as the program's head coach and has led the Lions to back-to-back 20-win seasons.