Volleyball Wins Second-Straight Road Match

9/30/2021 10:18:00 PM

SILVER CITY, N.M. – The St. Mary's Volleyball team buckled down in the fourth set and fought back from an early 6-1 deficit to pull off its second-straight road win in the Lone Star Conference, defeating Western New Mexico 25-17, 25-21, 23-25, 25-21 on Thursday evening.
 
The Rattlers improve to 8-4 on the season and 2-3 in league action, while the Mustangs fall to 2-11 overall and 1-3 in Lone Star play. The win snaps a six-match losing skid against WNMU and StMU is now 4-6 all-time against the Mustangs.
 
"I'm really proud of the team for winning a tough road match," Head Coach Laura Ulrich stated. "We struggled this past weekend and knew we had to get back to the basics and get back to our system. The commitment from the team and the balanced offense tonight was critical to our success as we continue to work towards redefining our identity as a program.
 
The two San Antonio outside hitters paced the team offensively as senior Alissa Tolbert led the team with 14 and sophomore Julia Aleman had nine, as did Houston sophomore OH Lindsey Ogle. Three others amassed four or more kills on the evening. 
 
Freshman Meghan Stiefer (La Vernia, Texas) and senior Rachel McDonald (Indianapolis, Ind.) each tallied four blocks to lead the match and junior libero Gabi Sandoval (San Antonio) led the team with 18 digs. She also led the team with two aces. Freshman Cali Nims (Corpus Christi, Texas) had a match-high 23 assists.
 
OH Bria Augustine led the Mustangs with 17 kills, while MB Megan Custer totaled 12 kills on 22 swings with no errors to lead the match with a .545 hitting percentage and led the team with four blocks.
 
The Rattlers jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first set and never looked back, winning 25-17. Aleman and Tolbert each had three kills in the set, while senior middle blocker Julia Deais (San Antonio) and Stiefer combined on two blocks as did McDonald and Tolbert.
 
Five different Rattlers each had two kills, while Manitzas and Ogle each collected an ace serve to lift the Gold & Blue to a second set 25-21 win.
 
The third set saw 11 ties, including 23-23 when the Mustangs won the final two points to force a fourth set. Deais and Tolbert each had four kills, while Aleman chipped in three.
 
Trailing 6-1 in the fourth set, the Rattlers battled back to tie the score at 10-10 and 11-11. A pair of service aces by Sandoval sandwiched around a kill by Deais gave StMU the lead and they never trailed again, winning 25-21. Tolbert paced the team with four kills in the set, while Ogle had three.
 
The Rattlers remain on the road, playing at UT Permian Basin on Saturday at 2 p.m. before returning home to host West Texas A&M on Thursday, Oct. 8 at 6 p.m.
 
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER & TEAM STATS                 

• Sophomore OH Julia Aleman tallied the 500th attack of her career with her first in the match.
• Freshman S Cali Nims collected her 200th assist of the season with her eighth on the night.
• In all five conference matches, the Rattlers have either been even or out-blocked the opposition. Against the Mustangs, they won the battle 9-7.
• The Rattlers also had more service aces than errors for the fourth time this season and the third match in a row. The team tallied six aces and just two errors – tied for the second-lowest in 2021.
• Sophomore DS Nadia Manitzas has had at least one service ace in six of the last seven matches and multiple aces in four of those six.