Wednesday, October 19 • Laredo • TAMIU Kinesiology & Convo Bldg.
St. Mary's (12-9, 8-2) at Texas A&M International (16-5, 7-1) • 6 p.m.
Friday, October 21 • San Antonio • Bill Greehey Arena • FACULTY APPRECIATION
Oklahoma Christian (13-9, 4-5) at St. Mary's • 6 p.m.
Saturday, October 22 • San Antonio • Bill Greehey Arena • SENIOR DA
UAFS (12-9, 4-4) at St. Mary's • 2 p.m.
Busy Stretch: The Rattlers play three matches in five days, starting Wednesday at Texas A&M International before returning home to host Oklahoma Christian on Friday for Faculty/Staff Appreciation Night and UAFS on Saturday at 2 p.m. for Senior Day. The Rattlers will honor Sadie Hough and Liz Ugbaja prior to first serve
It's An Honor: For the first time this season, a Rattler has won a weekly award from the Lone Star Conference in volleyball as freshman MB Dallasstar Johnson was named the Defensive Player of the Week after helping lead StMU to a pair of sweeps over UT Permian Basin and Angelo State. Johnson averaged 2.67 kills, 2.17 block and 0.83 aces/set, all while hitting .500. She tied her own StMU single-match record (three sets) with 10 blocks against UTPB. She had one solo and nine block assists, helping hold the Falcons to a .047 hitting percentage. Johnson also hit .457 (8-1-15) against the Falcons. In Saturday's win, she hit .538 (8-1-13), added three more blocks, and doubled her previous career-high with five service aces.
Guaranteed: St. Mary's is guaranteed its second-straight month of finishing .500 or better as they are off to a 5-0 start in the month of October with five matches remaining. In September, the Rattlers went 7-5, have amassed a six-match winning streak and have won eight of their last nine matches. In October, the Rattlers are 15-2 in sets played.
Alone In Fourth: The six-match winning streak against conference opponents gives the Rattlers an 8-2 mark in Lone Star play, which places them alone in fourth place. TAMIU has a one-match lead in third with a 7-1 record.
Series Histories: St. Mary's is 20-13 all-time against Texas A&M International, but is looking to snap a three-match losing skid against the Dust Devils. A year ago in Laredo, the first four sets were all decided by two or three points. Friday will be just the third meeting between the Rattlers and Oklahoma Christian. St. Mary's won the first meeting in five sets and the second in four and both were in Oklahoma City. This will be the second meeting this year against the Lions of UAFS after the clubs met in Dallas - a four-set win for the Lions to stretch their lead in the all-time series to 22-4. The Rattlers are looking for their first win since 2018.
A Withering Glare: Landri Withers smashed the 200th kill of her career against UT Permian Basin on Friday and now has 215. Withers is currently leading the team with 2.99 kills/set, which is the second-highest season average in St. Mary's history for a freshman. In 2004, Morgan Spencer averaged 3.68 kills/set to rank second on that team.
Double Trouble: Both junior S Aislan Lennon and sophomore S Cali Nims now rank in the top 20 in St. Mary's career history in double-doubles. Lennon is tied for 11th with 18 to her credit, while Nims is tied for 16th with 14. The all-time school record is 60 held by both Breann Alexander (2000-02) and Kristelle Rodriguez (2000-02). Alexander's were all double figures in both kills and digs, while Rodriguez notched all 60 of hers in assists and digs.
Aces High: St. Mary's ranks third in the Lone Star Conference in aces per set with 1.70, but has no players ranked among the top 20. Six different Rattlers have 10 or more aces this season, led by sophomore S Cali Nims with 23. In fact, all 14 players who have attempted a serve this year have multiple aces.
