SAN ANGELO – No. 11 Angelo State is set to enter the Moody Coliseum for the final time as Lone Star Conference volleyball rivals of Abilene Christian at 2 p.m. on Saturday and the Belles will bring a five-match winning streak with them.

Tweet #BelleYeah ASU (10-2, 3-0 LSC) leads the all-time series 56-30 against the Wildcats (4-6, 1-1 LSC) after taking two of three matches last season, but have lost their last 12 matches in Abilene with the last win coming in November of 1998.

“They always play well on their home court,” said ASU head coach Chuck Waddington, who is going for his 100^th victory at ASU in the match (99-48, fifth season). “They are a young, but talented team this season. They have athletes at the pins which makes them difficult to defend and they are strong in the middle as well. We have to handle our side of the net and expect a fight from Abilene Christian. This is a team that can beat us if we don't play well.”

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Angelo State, which is coming off sweeps of Tarleton State on Tuesday and McMurry on Thursday, knocked the Wildcats from the 2011 LSC tournament with a 3-1 (30-32, 25-18, 25-21, 25-17) win in the semifinals at Canyon. ACU and ASU both received bids to the NCAA Division II South Central regional tournament in Warrensburg, Mo. Abilene Christian hosts Tarleton State tonight before playing the Belles tomorrow.

Angelo State and Abilene Christian have played five common opponents this season. The Belles are 4-1 against those opponents while ACU is 3-2. Colorado School of Mines, which swept ASU, suffered a 3-1 loss to the Wildcats, while the Belles have win over Cal State San Bernadino and St. Edward's which both beat ACU.   

Shelbi Goode leads the Belles this season with 152 kills, while Chelsea Gibson has 92, Kaelen Valdez 85 and Maddie Huth 74. Valdez went off on the Wildcats last season in the LSC tournament with 19 kills and 14 digs. Alex Woolsey comes into Saturday's match with 419 assists this season and 4,110 for her career, including 155 assists in the three matches against ACU last season. Shelby Wilt leads the defense with 177 digs with Huth adding 33 blocks and Emily Booth 23 blocks.

Sara Oxford tops ACU with 118 kills, with Jennifer Loerch adding 102. Sarah Siemens has 360 assists through 10 matches along with 82 digs, while Madison Hoover leads the Wildcats with 128 digs.

“We've won our last three matches relatively easily, but I don't think we can take too much from those matches going into Abilene,” Waddington said. “Yes, we have been playing very well but this opponent is going to challenge us a lot more. It's nice to come in with a winning streak but we can't let that give us a false sense of security.”

The Belles return to the Junell Center for a 7 p.m. match on Tuesday against Texas A&M-Kingsville.