SAN ANGELO – The Belle Volleyball team, who are making their tenth-straight appearance at the NCAA Tournament, travel up to Denver this week to take part in the South Central Regional, hosted by MSU Denver.
The Belles enter the week with redemption on their mind after being upset in the quarterfinals of the LSC Tournament by UTPB; it will also be a full two weeks in between that contest and the Belles' match against Regis, the fifth-seeded team in the South Central Regional.
The Belles faced the Rangers earlier this season in the Colorado Premier Challenge, with the Belles winning 3-0, the Rangers' only loss that weekend. In that matchup, the Rangers only hit .043 for the match, their lowest mark of the season.
For the Belles in that match,
Delaney Fuller recorded 13 kills while
Grace White had eight blocks and
Baleigh Allen had six.
Under head coach
Chuck Waddington, the Belles are 5-1 against the Rangers, having won the last five matchups dating back to 2012. The Belles have also prevailed in both of their postseason matchups – 2012 and 2015.
Kailyn Gilbreath has been the focal point of the Belles' offense this season, hitting .300 and averaging 2.95 kills per set while also averaging 7.07 assists per set.
Baleigh Allen, the LSC Defensive Player of the Year, is a force to be reckoned with at the net, averaging 1.24 blocks per set while
Chloe Patton leads the team in digs with 4.45 digs per set.
The Rangers are led offensively by Caitlyn Burroway and her 3.56 kills per set, accounting for over a quarter of all team kills this season. Against the Belles on September 10
th, Burroway only had six kills, hitting .040 for the match.
Nadine Burbrink leads the Rangers with 1.13 blocks per set. The German recorded eight kills and three blocks last time out against the Belles.
The winner of this matchup will face the winner of the one-eight matchup in the bracket between hosts MSU Denver and eight-seed CSU-Pueblo.
The teams on the other side of the bracket are: second-seed Colorado School of Mines; third-seed Colorado Mesa; sixth-seed UT Tyler; and seventh-seeded West Texas A&M.
