Volleyball Concludes Regular Season Wednesday at TAMUK

REGULAR SEASON FINALE
Wednesday, November 2 • Kingsville • Gil E. Steinke Physical Education Center
St. Mary's (14-12, 10-5) at Texas A&M Kingsville (18-8, 10-3) • 6 p.m.

Road Warriors: St. Mary's wraps up the regular season on Wednesday at Texas A&M Kingsville and then has the final weekend off as the rest of the league finishes up their 16-match league schedule. The Rattlers have already broken the team record for most wins in a Lone Star season, passing last year's team which won eight.

Tournament Bound: For the second-straight season, the Rattlers have qualified for the Lone Star Conference Championship, doing so with the four-set win over UAFS. The top eight seeds will travel to the top-seed Nov. 10-12. West Texas A&M currently holds the number one spot in the league at 14-0.

First-Ever: 2022 marks the first-ever winning record in Lone Star Conference play for the Rattlers in the fourth season in the league. The 10 wins in league action are also the most since 2013 (10-8) and tie for the most against conference foes since the school joined the Division II ranks in 2000. In 1996, the Rattlers were 15-1 in the Heart of Texas Conference, advancing to the NAIA Southwest Regional.

Series History: St. Mary's owns the slight 29-26 advantage in the all-time series against Texas A&M Kingsville, but has lost the last seven matches, dating back to 2019. The teams played four times during the spring 2021 season due to the pandemic.

It's A Match: St. Mary's has already matched its win total from a season ago at 14 and has at least two matches left to the 2022 campaign. In 2021, Head Coach Laura Ulrich's inaugural season, the Rattlers finished 14-11, advancing to the quarterfinals of the Lone Star Tournament.

Balanced Attack: Six different Rattlers have recorded at least 100 kills this season, while freshman Laurene Robinson needs one to join the club. Freshman Landri Withers leads the team with 263, while junior Lindsey Ogle is second at 150. It is the first time since 2016 the Rattlers have had at least six players hit the century mark in kills. That club finished 14-14 overall and 6-8 in Heartland Conference play.

Aces Are Wild: St. Mary's ranks second in the Lone Star Conference with 1.71 aces per set. That average currently ranks as the fourth-best mark in school history and is the best since the 2007 team averaged a school-best 1.90 per set. Six different Rattlers have at least 10 aces on the year, led by sophomore S Cali Nims with 29 (0.32).

Closing In: Cali Nims is 71 assists shy of 1,000 for her career and is 43 away from matching her freshman total of 486. Lindsey Ogle needs 19 kills for 400 and four blocks for 100 in her career. The next kill for Laurene Robinson will be her 100th. 

A Withering Glare: Landri Withers smashed the 250th kill of her career in the win over UAFS and stands at 263. 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 16th with 15. 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.