Antonio Morano Photography

Box Score

Southwest Baptist SB 1-4

St. Mary's (TX) SMU-TX 5-1

Southwest Baptist SB

1-4

Final

Sep. 13, 2019

St. Mary's (TX) SMU-TX

5-1

Set Scores
Team	1	2	3	4	F
Southwest Baptist SB	16	17	25	11	(1)
St. Mary's (TX) SMU-TX	25	25	21	25	(3)

Game Recap: Volleyball | 9/13/2019 12:08:00 PM | RattlerAthletics.com

Friday Morning Win Gives Volleyball Fifth Straight

Next Match:

vs. Edinboro

9/14/2019 | 1 p.m.

Next Match

Full Schedule

Sep. 14 (Sat) / 1 p.m.

vs. Edinboro

History

Recap
Roster

By Heather Kennedy | RattlerAthletics.com

KINGSVILLE, Texas – The early morning start for the St. Mary's Volleyball team didn't seem to matter, as the Rattlers defeated the Southwest Baptist Bearcats in four sets on Friday at the Emerald Beach Hotel – Javelina Volleyball Invitational 25-16, 25-17, 21-25, 25-11.

While 8:30 might seem like an early start for many, the Rattlers have been practicing at 6 or 6:30 for most of the 2019 season, so today was business as usual for the 5-1 team.

"We served aggressively again today," said Head Coach Stephanie Armstrong. "And we hit well in the first set, which I'm proud of. SBU did a great job of running their middles in the third set and we struggled with some errors, but we did a great job of minimizing those in the fourth set to get the win."

The 5-1 start for St. Mary's is the best since 2011 when that team started the year 10-0 and went on to a 17-13 overall record.

Against the Bearcats, sophomore Alissa Tolbert (San Antonio) recorded her fourth double-double of the year with 13 kills and 11 digs. She and sophomore Jasmine Sims (Graham, Texas) tied for match-high honors with 13 kills each. Senior KK Payne (New Braunfels, Texas) led the match with a career-high 16 kills and five service aces, while Tolbert served another four and senior Bree Perry (Houston, Texas) chipped in three. Perry also tallied a season-high 45 assists and sophomore middle blocker Rachel McDonald (Indianapolis, Indiana) led the team with four blocks and hit a team-high .357 (8-3-14).

The Rattlers conclude the Invitational on Saturday with a pair of matches. At 1 p.m. they face Edinboro and then at 7:30 will take on Augustana.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Sims started the morning off with a kill for the Rattlers and the Bearcats answered with one of their own for the 1-1 tie. After they took the 2-1 lead, Tolbert recorded back-to-back kills for the 3-2 advantage. The teams tied up the score at 3-3 and 4-4 before the Rattlers scored three straight for the 7-4 lead. SBU scored four of the next five to knot the score again at 8-8 and with the score tied at 9-9 the Gold & Blue used an 8-0 run to take a 17-9 lead. Sims and Alcazar each had two kills, while Tolbert had one and Payne had a pair of aces during the stretch. The Bearcats answered by scoring four of the next five to cut it to an 18-13 score, but the Rattlers did the same stretch to push it back to 22-14. McDonald had two kills and paired with Perry on a block and Payne added another kill during the stretch. After back-to-back Bearcat points, the Rattlers closed out the set with three-straight for the 25-16 win.

Payne began set two with a kill before SBU scored a pair for the 2-1 lead. With the score tied at 2-2, SBU again scored back-to-back points for a 4-2 advantage, but the Rattlers knotted the score with kills by Sims and McDonald. After a four-point Bearcats run, the Rattlers scored seven of eight for the 11-9 edge – with three kills by Tolbert and two by McDonald. The teams traded points to 13-11 when SBU used a four-point rally to regain the lead at 15-13, however it was short lived. The Rattlers immediately answered with an 11-point run – their longest of the season thus far – to set up set point at 24-15. Payne served the entire run and had three aces during the stretch and the team chipped in two blocks and a few kills as well. The Bearcats staved off two set points, but Sims slammed home a kill on the third for the 25-17 victory.

The Rattlers bounced out to the 6-3 lead in the third set, but SBU responded by scoring five of the next six points to take the 8-7 lead. A service error tied it a 8-8, but the Bearcats kept things going with four of the next five to lead 12-9. Tolbert scored the 10^th point of the set with a kill and the teams traded points so the scoreboard read 13-11. Each team had a two-point mini run for the 15-13 tally when the Bearcats scored three in a row to stretch their lead to 18-13. The Rattlers responded with a four-point run, including two kills by Payne and an ace by sophomore libero Catherine Cruz (San Antonio) to make in a one-point set, 18-17, but the Bearcats had an answer with a three-point run for the 20-17 score. The Gold & Blue scored three of the next four to close within two, 22-20, but SBU scored four of the final six for the 25-21 win to force a fourth set.

StMU focused in immediately and started with five of the first six points behind the strong serving of Perry. She had two aces with a kill and a solo stuff by Alacazar for the 5-1 lead. After a three-point run by the Bearcats made it 5-4, the Rattlers scored six straight with Sims at the serving line to lead 11-4. Sims had two aces and a kill, while Tolbert chipped in two kills during the run. SBU scored four of five for the 12-8 tally, but the Rattlers went on another big run – this one nine points with Tolbert serving – for the 21-8 score. She had three aces during the streak, while Payne and McDonald each had a kill and McDonald and Perry teamed up for a block. After an SBU point, the Rattlers finished the match scoring four of the final six for the lopsided 25-11 win. During the final points, Cruz had her first kill of the season, setting up match point for Sims.

INDIVIDUAL & TEAM NOTES

KK Payne had a career-high five service aces, bettering her previous high of three from last season against New Mexico Highlands (Aug. 25).
For the second-straight match and the third time this season, the Rattlers had more service aces than errors as they had 15 aces and nine errors. Last night against Westminster, the team had 11 aces to just three miscues. The team already has 49 aces in six matches in 2019 (2.13 per set), more than 1/3 of the way to last year's total of 133 (1.28 per set).
Jasmine Sims recorded a season-best 13 kills, topping the 12 she's done on three occasions.
Alissa Tolbert notched her fourth double-double of the year with 13 kills and 11 digs and the 14^th of her career. The 13 kills ties her season high. She also had a season-high four aces in the match – one off her career-high of five from last year against Newman (Oct. 20).
The .481 hitting percentage in set one is the highest hitting percentage of any set this season. The previous high was .333 in set five Thursday against Texas A&M Kingsville.
The 5-1 start to the year is the best since the 2011 team began 10-0. That team finished 17-13 overall.
Savannah Alcazar recorded a season-high two solo blocks against the Bearcats, while Bree Perry had a season-high three block assists. Perry also had a season-high 45 set assists and three aces. Her career-best is also five, coming against DBU in 2016 (Sept. 17).