SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State volleyball team brings a seven-match winning streak into a Lone Star Conference contest against Texas A&M-Kingsville at 1 p.m. on Saturday at the Junell Center.

The Belles (8-1, 3-0 LSC) have started conference play with wins over Texas Woman's, Cameron and Midwestern State and have knocked off out-of-conference opponents Harding and Texas-Permian Basin in their last two matches. ASU is coming off a four-set win over UTPB on Tuesday and is 4-1 at home this season entering Saturday's match against the Javelinas (7-2, 1-1 LSC). While the Belles will not have a Friday night match this week, TAMUK takes on Tarleton State (7-2, 1-1 LSC) on Friday before venturing down to San Angelo.

ASU has won its last eight matches against the Javelinas and the all-time series belongs to the Belles who maintain a 53-10 advantage.
 
Quotes  ||  Chuck Waddington, Angelo State head coach

On playing against Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday at the Junell Center:
"Statistically, they are the best offensive team in the conference right now. I've seen them on tape, and they match up with those numbers for sure. They are playing great defense and transition well to find their hitters who are doing a good job of putting the ball away. We're going to have to do a really good job of tracking their attackers and defending well."
 
On the status of the Belles through the first nine matches of the 2014 season:
"The best thing is that we are continuing to improve as the season goes on. We have a lot of young kids who are starting to figure it out which is good for us. We're still a little banged up, but we have players stepping up and doing a good job in the roles that we've been putting them in. I'm pretty happy with our progress right now."
 
Belle Roster Report
Abbie Lynn was named the Lone Star Conference's Offensive Player of the Week on Tuesday and then provided 12 kills in the win over UTPB later that night. A freshman from Amarillo, Lynn has provided 94 kills (3.13 per set) this season for the Belles and is hitting .296 and has 13 blocks. She is second on the team in kills behind Mallory Blauser's 123 kills. Blauser, a sophomore who played at the University of Cincinnati last season before transferring to ASU, is producing 3.84 kills per set through her first nine matches. A Round Rock native, Blauser has six double-digit kill performances.

A team captain and also the program's all-time digs leader, Angelo State senior Shelby Wilt enters this weekend with 2,037 digs in her record-setting career. A Dalhart native and the LSC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, Wilt leads the Belles with 175 digs (5.15 per set) and is currently third in digs per set in the LSC behind Casey Fletcher (Midwestern State) who has 6.14 digs per set and Morgan Wilson who has 5.36 digs per set for Texas Woman's. Wilt has recorded double-digit dig performances in each of ASU's nine matches with a season-high 28 digs coming against Arkansas Fort Smith. Along with Wilt, the ASU defense is bolstered by Katie MacLeay who has 106 digs (3.12 per) and Kelly Hasbrouck's 98 digs in her freshman season. MacLeay, who is a team captain playing in her junior season, is second on the team with nine service aces behind Daeleigh Castile who leads the team with 14 aces.

Alexa Johnson, who was named the LSC Setter of the Week after the first weekend of play, leads the conference with 11.62 assists per set this season. Johnson is in her first season with the Belles after playing at Lamar University last season. Though nine matches, the Nebraska native has amassed 395 kills and has also contributed 73 digs and 26 kills. Johnson recorded a season-high 57 assists against UAFS and is coming off a 48-assist performance against the Falcons on Tuesday in Odessa.

Castile, a freshman from Arizona, also leads the Belles with 25 blocks to go along with her team-leading 14 service aces. She is coming off her season-high with 12 kills against UTPB and has 51 kills this season. Castile has two four-block performances this season against Texas Woman's and Harding. Zoey Hanrahan is second on the team with 22 blocks in her sophomore season and has also provided 59 kills. Cerbi Ritchey is also coming off a season-high where she had 12 kills against UTPB. A redshirt sophomore from Big Spring, Ritchey has 249 career kills in her career at ASU.
 
 
Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas
NEXT MEETING: Saturday, Oct. 25 @ 1 p.m. /  Kingsville's Hampton Court Inn

The Javelinas enter this weekend's play with a team hitting percentage of .296 and 12.85 kills per set. TAMUK, which has a conference win over Eastern New Mexico on its early season resume, is coming off a four-set win over St. Mary's on Tuesday after taking a four-set loss to West Texas A&M in Kingsville last Saturday. Ashley Bukowski, a sophomore middle blocker from Harlingen, leads the Javelinas with 103 kills and has an impressive .378 attacking percentage through 34 sets played. Krystal Faison has added 84 kills (2.47 per set) in her freshman season, while Kelsey Washington has 78 kills to start of her senior season. Ashley Tipps, a senior from Houston who started her career at Arkansas State, leads the Javelinas with 33 blocks and has also provided 64 kills.

From the setter position, freshman Casey Klobendans has produced 303 assists (8.91 per set) and also has 44 digs on the stat sheet. Brett Zaccardo leads the team with 151 digs (4.44 per set) and Faison has added 80 digs. The Javelinas lead their opponents 77 to 47.5 in the block department and are averaging 2.26 blocks per set through nine matches this season.

Texas A&M-Kingsville is coming off a 15-19 overall record in 2013 where it went 6-10 in Lone Star Conference play. The Javelinas advanced to the postseason where they were swept by West Texas A&M in the conference tournament to end their season. The Javelinas have lost their eight matches against the Belles with their last win over Angelo State coming on Oct. 12, 2006 in Waddington's first season at ASU.  The Javelinas are coached by Tanya Allen who is in her fourth season at Texas A&M-Kingsville.