SAN ANGELO – After a sweeping finish in the South Central Regional Tournament, the No.12 Belle volleyball team travels to Sioux Falls, South Dakota where it will face No. 9 Alaska Anchorage at 12:00 p.m. Thursday, December 8 in the Elite Eight of the NCAA DII National Volleyball tournament.

This will mark the first trip to the national tournament in Angelo State volleyball history and will be the fourth time that the Belles will face the Seawolves. The third seeded ASU is 34-3 overall and 4-1 at neutral sites. The team will be looking to improve upon a seven match winning streak. The Belles currently lead Alaska Anchorage 3-1 in the all-time series. The last meeting between the two teams in 1999 resulted in a five set loss for the Belles.

"It didn't really hit me until Sunday that we were going to get on a plane Tuesday and go compete for a national championship," commented ASU Head Coach Chuck Waddington. " A lot of people are excited because they have been waiting a long time for us to finally punch our ticket to the Elite Eight. It's always been our goal to get to the Elite Eight to give ourselves a chance. Our goal is to go there and win, not just to be happy that we are there."

Six seeded UAA is currently boasting a 32-2 overall record and has claimed both the Great Northwestern Athletic Conference Championship as well as the NCAA DII West Regional Championship. The Seawolves are riding an eleven match winning streak as they enter the tournament. The winner of this National quarter-final match up will move on to face the winner of No. 2 seed Palm Beach Atlantic and No. 7 seed South Carolina-Aiken in the national semifinals.

"Alaska Anchorage is a really talented and physical team," added Waddington. "They play a great style of volleyball, and I think that there are six or seven teams in this bracket that can say to themselves 'we have a really good shot.' Alaska Anchorage is one of those and so are we. I am expecting a touch match just like the two we played last week."

Leading the Belles potent attack will be Mallory Blauser, Brianna Sotello and Abbie Lynn. Blauser has led the squad for the second consecutive season with a team most 532 kills, which averages her 4.33 per set. She is now only 18 kills away from breaking her career high for total kills in a season. The senior has etched her name in the ASU history books as third all-time with 1,441 career kills and is only seven kills away from claiming the second spot all time. She is currently boasting a .304 clip in 2016 and has assisted the defense with a team third 365 digs and 78 total blocks.

Sotello has worked her way up to crack the top 10 all-time in ASU history with 1,128 career kills, and is currently second on the squad with 380 kills this season. The outside hitter is averaging 3.30 kills per set. The junior is also second on the ASU defense with 396 total digs and 59 total blocks this season. Lynn rounds out the group checking in with a team third 270 kills on the season. The right side hitter is averaging 2.35 kills per set with a .286 hitting percentage. She has recorded 55 total blocks in 2016.

Anchoring the Angelo State defense will be Mallory Davidson, Morgan Seaton and Tulani Titley. Davidson has recorded seven matches this season with a least 20 digs, two of which came in the regional semifinal and final match. She is averaging 4.20 digs per set and currently has a total of 504 on the season. From the service line she has dropped in 25 aces on the year. Seaton leads the bell along the net with a total of 112 total blocks this season recording 12 total blocks in the regional tournament. She has also made a great contribution to the attack as she has hammed down a team fourth 254 kills from the middle blocker position this season. Finally, Titley has a great freshman season thus far as she in now second on ASU with 81 total blocks and is fifth on the team with 154 kills.

Meghan Parker, who will continue to dish out the ball for the Belles, has had an incredible start to her career at ASU. The freshman has recorded 1,379 assists on the season and is only 21 away from crossing the 1,400 assist mark. This has already placed her 10th all-time in the ASU history books. The freshman has also assisted the team as she has added a team second 36 service aces and a team fifth 282 digs to her numbers for the season.

Micheala Sifuentes and Leiyona Young will add depth to the Belles roster. Sifuentes has recorded squad fourth 304 digs on the season for an average of 2.87digs per set. She recorded 14 matches this season with double-figure digs. Completing the list of key contributors, Young has marked 50 blocks on the season and has assisted the offense with 1.12 kills per set.

All NCAA DII National Tournament matches will be streamed live on NCAA.com.