Antonio Morano Photography

Box Score

Ark.-Fort Smith UAFS 19-11, 8-4

St. Mary's (TX) STMU 14-15, 8-4

Ark.-Fort Smith UAFS

19-11, 8-4

Final

Nov. 09, 2018

St. Mary's (TX) STMU

14-15, 8-4

Set Scores
Team	1	2	3	F
Ark.-Fort Smith UAFS	25	25	25	(3)
St. Mary's (TX) STMU	20	20	13	(0)

Game Recap: Volleyball | 11/10/2018 12:03:00 AM | RattlersAthletics.com

Volleyball drops rematch at Heartland Tournament

By Heather Kennedy | St. Mary's Athletics Communications

LUBBOCK, Texas – The UAFS volleyball team turned the tables on the St. Mary's Rattlers this season, upsetting the two-seed in the opening round of the Heartland Conference Volleyball Tournament after the Rattlers did the same to the Lions one-year ago on the Lions home floor. On Friday evening, UAFS defeated the Rattlers in three sets 25-20, 25-20, 25-13.

UAFS will face fourth-seeded St. Edward's Saturday in the championship match as they upset host and top-seeded Lubbock Christian in five sets in the first match of the tournament. St. Mary's ends its season with a 14-15 overall record.

Freshman outside hitter Alissa Tolbert (San Antonio) was the only Rattler to notch double figures in kills, garnering 10 on the night. She and junior setter Bree Perry (Houston, Texas) also each recorded one service ace.

Senior Monica Ramon (San Antonio) finished her stellar career with a team-high 15 digs, to bring her career total with the Blue and Gold to 1,060. Freshman Rachel McDonald (Indianapolis) recorded a match-high seven total blocks, just one off her career-high off of eight from Our Lady of the Lake on Sept. 4.

In the opening set, the Lions jumped out the early 6-3 lead, but the Rattlers chipped away until it was knotted at 8-8 and took their first lead of the night at 9-8 after a second-straight kill by Tolbert. The two squads were tied at every point from nine to 13 before UAFS used a 6-1 rally for the 19-14 advantage. Back-to-back blocks by Tolbert and McDonald on one and senior middle Jaycie Pluenneke (Liberty Hill, Texas) on the other forced a UAFS timeout with the score 19-16. StMU committed three straight errors and Coach Stephanie Armstrong called her final timeout of the set to calm down her troops. The teams traded points to 24-18 when Tolbert and Hankins blasted back-to-back kills and forced a final break by the Lions at 24-20. UAFS was able to score the final point for the 25-20 first set win.

The Rattlers jumped out to the early 4-1 lead in the second set after kills by Pluenneke, Hankins and an ace by Tolbert and UAFS called an early timeout. The strategy worked as Rachel Williams came out firing with three straight kills to tie the score at 4-4. There were seven more ties until 12-12 when the Lions used a 6-0 rally to press an 18-12 lead and StMU used its second break of the set. The Rattlers scored two of the next three points off kills by sophomore Ilina Spasova (Sofia, Bulgaria) and Hankins, but the Lions went on another five-point scoring run to extend their lead to 24-14. Junior KK Payne (New Braunfels, Texas) recorded a kill that sparked a six-point scoring run for the Rattlers, which included three straight blocks by McDonald – two with sophomore Mackenzie Harless (Brownsburg, Indiana) and one with Payne – and a kill by McDonald, but UAFS was again finally able to end the run and win the set by the identical score of 25-20.

Perry started the third set off with an ace serve and then set up Tolbert for the kill to give the Rattlers a 2-0 lead. UAFS answered with a 5-0 run and the team's then traded points to 9-7 when the Lions used their second five-point run of the set for a 14-7 lead. Tolbert ended the run with a kill and Pluenneke followed with a solo block to force UAFS into its own timeout. Eight of the next nine points were scored by the Lions to increase their lead to 22-11. Payne recorded a kill and the Rattlers scored a point off a UAFS error, but the Lions scored the final two points of the match for the 25-13 victory and a spot in the finals.

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