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SAN ANTONIO — St. Mary's Volleyball fought back Friday, but not enough to overcome an early two-set deficit against Minnesota Crookston.
The Rattlers opened up the 2013 season with a 3-1 defeat to UMC, falling before their home crowd at Bill Greehey Arena on the opening day of the Rattler/Hilltopper Classic. St. Mary's later dropped 3-0 to Western New Mexico.
"We expected to play better and have better success," junior
Melissa Heft (San Antonio) said. "But sometimes those first-game jitters are hard to overcome.
"We are going to recognize our mistakes and come out tomorrow and look at it as a new game, a new team."
Kelsey Huber (Jr., San Antonio) had a team-high 14 kills and 20 digs against Minnesota Crookston, while senior
Karlie Ortega (San Antonio) added 11 as the Rattlers bounced back from an 0-2 hole for a dominant third-set victory that seemed to alter the match's momentum.
But Minnesota Crookston was able to hold on, downing the Rattlers 25-23 — a series of numbers the Rattlers would come to loathe — in the decisive fourth set to take the match.
UMC won the match 25-23, 25-23, 11-25, 25-23.
Freshman
Lauren Slaughter (San Antonio) had a strong first showing, hitting .316 with seven kills, one block solo and a trio of block assists.
Victorria Martinez (Jr., Arlington, Texas) added 24 digs, while setter
Mikayla Bass (So., Coppell, Texas) had 23 assists to lead the Rattlers.
Against Western New Mexico,
Jenna Paul (So., Alvin, Texas) and Huber led the Rattlers with six kills apiece. Martinez added 25 digs, while Bass led the way with 11 assists.
St. Mary's returns to the court for Day 2 of the Rattler/Hilltopper Classic on Saturday at 11 a.m. against Adams State at 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.
