Box Score
SAN ANTONIO — St. Mary's Volleyball was able to find its stride at home, claiming a five-set thriller over Texas A&M-Kingsville Tuesday.
St. Mary's battled back from a 0-2 deficit to defeat the Javalinas 22-25, 21-25, 25-19, 25-20 and 15-10.
Bill Greehey Arena saw a strong performance in
Jenna Paul (So., Alvin, Texas) who led the night in kills with 16 and had a team-high five block assists.
Kelsey Huber (Jr., San Antonio) was as impressively dominant, recording 11 kills, four block assists and one block solo.
But it was also
Megan Isbell (Fr., New Braunfels, Texas) who stepped up for the Rattlers Tuesday.
Isbell, a 6-foot-2 middle blocker, started her first match on the season against the Javalinas (11-11) and helped fuel the Rattlers' strong comeback in a must-win mentality.
"We definitely just needed this win," said Isbell who totaled three block assists and three kills against the Javalinas. "We wouldn't take "no" for an answer. We brought a lot of energy in the fourth game which transitioned into the fifth game. It's a good momentum builder."
Setter duo
Rachael Scicchitano (Fr., McKinney, Texas) and
Mikayla Bass (So., Coppell, Texas) each broke 20 assists on the game with Scicchitano leading with 29 followed by Bass with 22.
Libero
Victorria Martinez (Jr., Arlington, Texas) recorded the night's high of 24 digs followed by
Karlie Ortega (Sr., San Antonio) with 20. Ortega also attacked for nine kills on the night.
The Rattlers improved to 9-10 on the season with the victory, which will hope to serve as confidence and motivation for a big week ahead.
St. Mary's will face two conference contenders this week at home, Texas-Permian Basin and Lubbock Christian, which has the potential for the Rattlers to jump in Heartland Conference standings in a very tight race to the postseason tournament.
The Rattlers will first take on Texas-Permian Basin in their Breast Cancer Awareness match at 7 p.m. Thursday in Bill Greehey Arena.
St. Mary's University, as a Catholic Marianist University, fosters the formation of people in faith and educates leaders for the common good through community service, integrated liberal arts and professional education, and academic excellence. The University has six athletic national titles: men's basketball (1989–NAIA), baseball (2001–NCAA Div. II), softball (1986–NAIA and 2002–NCAA Div. II) and an individual national champion in men's golf (2006–NCAA Div. II) and a national academic championship in men's golf (2009–NCAA Div. II). St. Mary's also had more than 40 percent of its athletes named to conference, regional and/or national honor rolls this past year. St. Mary's student–athletes graduation rate is 65 percent, higher than the NCAA Division II average of 55 percent. To learn more about St. Mary's, visit www.rattlerathletics.com.
