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Scoreboard

KK Payne
Antonio Morano Photography
0
St. Mary's (TX) STMU 6-4
3
Winner Tarleton State TSU 7-3
St. Mary's (TX) STMU
6-4
0
Final
3
Tarleton State TSU
7-3
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
St. Mary's (TX) STMU 16 14 23 (0)
Tarleton State TSU 25 25 25 (3)

Game Recap: Volleyball | | RattlerAthletics.com

Payne Leads Volleyball Against #11 Texans

By Heather Kennedy | RattlerAthletics.com

STEPHENSVILLE, Texas – Taking on the 11th-ranked Tarleton State Texans, the St. Mary's Volleyball team lost in straight sets 16-25, 14-25, 23-25 on Family Weekend inside Wisdom Gym.

Senior KK Payne (New Braunfels, Texas) paced the Rattlers (6-4, 0-2 Lone Star Conference) with 10 kills and a fantastic .556 hitting percentage. The outside hitter did not have any hitting errors in the three sets on 18 swings and she added 11 digs for her fourth double-double and her second-straight. Fellow senior Bree Perry (Houston, Texas) narrowly missed her second consecutive double-double with a match-high 27 assists and eight digs. Sophomore Julia Deais (San Antonio) tied her career-high with four block assists to lead the team.

The Texans (7-3, 2-0 Lonestar) were led by Tatyana Tuialii-Umi with 15 kills and Lauren Kersey with 10 kills and six blocks, while Michaela Rodriguez totaled 17 digs.

The Rattlers finally come home for the season home opener on Friday against Eastern New Mexico at 6 p.m. and then host West Texas A&M on Saturday at 2 p.m. in a rematch of the season opener

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Rattlers scored the first point of the match, but the Texans scored the next four for the early 4-1 lead and StMU never led again. Payne and sophomore Jasmine Sims (Graham, Texas) recorded back-to-back kills to cut it to one, 4-3, but TSU scored three of the next four for the 7-4 advantage. Sophomore Rachel McDonald (Indianapolis, Indiana) had a solo stuff and followed with a kill to again cut it to one, 7-6. A three point run by TSU forced a St. Mary's timeout at 10-6 and McDonald recorded a kill on the slide for the 10-7 tally. The teams traded points, before TSU put up two for the 13-8 score. Payne posted back-to-back kills to make it 13-10 and the teams exchanged points to 16-13. The Texans used a three-point rally to push the lead to six, 19-13 when the Gold & Blue called its final timeout of the set. They came out and scored two after the break for the 19-15 score, but TSU scored six of the seven final points for the 25-16 win.

Three of the first four points of the second set went to the number 11 team in the nation with the lone Rattler point a kill by Deais. Two of the next three points were by the Rattlers – kills by Tolbert and McDonald to make it a 4-3 Texan lead, but a seven-point rally gave them an 11-3 edge. Junior Amara Martinez (Houston), who had just checked in, immediately recorded a kill to stop the streak. The Texans answered with three straight to stretch it to a 10-point set, 14-4, however the Rattlers fought back scoring five of the next six points with a Martinez kill, ace serves by sophomore Catherine Cruz (San Antonio) and Perry and a Payne-Deais block to make the score 15-9. After a three-point run by TSU, Sims started a three-point run for the Rattlers for the 12-18 score. TSU used another three-point run to juxtapose the scores at 21-12. Freshman Shea Slusser (Denton, Texas) recorded her first kill of the match but four of the last five kills went to the Texans for the 25-14 final.

The third set was tied at 1-1 and 2-2 with Deais and Sims each notching a kill before TSU took the 5-2 advantage. The teams exchanged points and Slusser posted a kill and Perry and McDonald teamed up for a bock to cut it to one, 6-5. The Texans scored five of the next seven to extent their lead to four, 11-7 when Deais and Payne killed back-to-back balls to cut the lead in half, 11-9. Trailing 12-9, St. Mary's called a quick timeout to regroup and tied the set for the third time, forcing Tarleton State into its first timeout of the afternoon. Each team scored two for the 14-14 tie, but the Texans offense scored six of the next eight for the 20-16 lead. Payne and Perry posted consecutive kills to cut the lead in half again, 20-18, but a pair of StMU errors pushed it to four, 22-18. The Rattlers scored four of the next five, with three being Payne kills for the 23-22 score, but the Texans were able to hold on for the 25-23 victory.

INDIVIDUAL & TEAM PLAYER NOTES
  • KK Payne hit a career-best .556 against the Texans (minimum 10 kills), recording 10 kills on 18 swings with no hitting errors. Her previous best was .515 (18-1-33) against Newman (Oct. 20) last season.
  • Payne recorded double-doubles in both matches this weekend, doubling her season total to four and giving her five for her career at St. Mary's.
  • Julia Deais tied her career-high with four block assists in the match. She also had four in a five-set match against Arkansas-Monticello last year on Sept. 7.
  • Bree Perry did not record a ball handling error on the opening weekend of Lone Star Conference play. The senior setter had 201 set attempts in the seven sets and 64 assists.
  • The Rattlers have tallied at least two service aces in all 10 matches this season.
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