SAN ANGELO – The Belles enter the final weekend of the regular season with a first-round bye in next week's LSC Tournament and sit firmly in control of their own destiny for the tournament. A pair of road wins this weekend will give the Belles the top seed in the tournament, as well as the right to host the tournament.

The Belles start their weekend off with a Friday night match against St. Mary's (7 p.m. start time) before their Saturday afternoon regular season finale with St. Edward's (1 p.m. start time).

The Belles are 21-3 on the season and 14-1 in conference play. They are currently tied for first in the LSC standings with UT Tyler, holding the tiebreaker over the Patriots.

The nation's sixth-ranked team has a .245 hitting percentage on the season while only allowing their opponents to hit .132 against them; the Belles also average 14.40 kills per set while only allowing 10.43 for the opposition.

Kailyn Gilbreath has been the focal point of the Belles' attack this season, whether that's spreading the ball around to the Belles' other attackers when she's playing as the setter or becoming an option to attack from the right side when Jaedyn Woolley enters a match for the Belles.

The senior leads the team with 245 kills on the season as well as a team-best 593 assists. Gilbreath has also recorded four triple-doubles in the past four weeks, and she is responsible for four of the five triple-doubles in the LSC this season.
Fellow senior Baleigh Allen leads the conference with 1.15 blocks per set and is also second with a .366 hitting percentage on the season.

Sophomore outside hitters Delaney Fuller and Elsa Lamphere are both over 200 kills on the season, with 209 and 201, respectively.

On the defensive side, Chloe Patton, the reigning two-time LSC Defensive Player of the Week, is tenth in the LSC with 4.29 digs per set while Fuller is averaging over three digs per set as well.
 
SCOUTING THE RATTLERS
St. Mary's is 13-9 on the season and 7-8 in conference play. They are currently 11^th in the LSC standings, one game ahead of 12^th place Eastern New Mexico and another game ahead of 13^th place Texas Woman's.

The Rattlers have won five of their past eight matches and are 3-3 this season at home. The Belles have never lost to the Rattlers under head coach Chuck Waddington, claiming victory in San Antonio three times, most recently in 2019.

The Rattlers' offense goes through Alissa Tolbert, who has 308 kills on the season while libero Gabi Sandoval (4.43 digs per set) and Julia Deais (57.0 blocks) head up their defensive effort.
 
SCOUTING THE HILLTOPPERS
St. Edward's is 13-9 on the season and 8-7 in conference play. They are eighth in the LSC standings with the potential to end anywhere from fifth to twelfth in the final regular season standings.

The Hilltoppers have won their past four matches and are 4-3 at home this season. They are winless in two attempts against ranked opposition this season, falling to #12 Oklahoma Baptist and #23 UT Tyler, both of which were sweeps.

The Belles are 5-0 against the Hilltoppers under Waddington with a trio of wins in Austin, most recently doing so in 2019.

Caroline Swan leads the squad with 214 kills on the season while freshman Jillienne Connell ranks fourth in the LSC with 0.97 blocks per set.