Volleyball Takes the Brooms to Battle of the Saints

AUSTIN, Texas — The St. Mary's University Volleyball team started a bit rough in the annual Battle of the Saints, but finished in a big way, sweeping St. Edward's 25-19, 25-17, 25-17 on Wednesday night.
 
The Rattlers (9-9, 4-3 Lone Star) scored only one point in the first nine of the match to trail 8-1 but rebounded to score 24 of the next 35 for the first-set win. Both Kelly Swyers (Austin, Texas) and Dallasstar Johnson (San Antonio) led the team with three kills each in the comeback, while Landri Withers (Stephenville, Texas) led all players with five digs.
 
The teams went back-and-forth early in the remaining two sets, but the Rattlers pulled away late in each for the three-set victory.
 
Johnson led the Rattlers with eight kills and hit .438, making only one hitting error the entire match (8-1-16). Swyers ended with seven kills and a team-high four blocks, while Withers led all players with 14 digs. Both Alyssa Koehl (New Braunfels, Texas) and Aislan Lennon (Houston) chipped in 10 digs each. Lennon was also stellar at the service line, serving four of the team's seven aces.
 
Lourdes Gomez led the Hilltoppers (7-12, 3-4 Lone Star) with eight kills, while Sarah Konovodoff had 13 digs and Cora Young tallied seven blocks.
 
This is the third-straight win in the Battle of the Saints for the Rattlers, as the team improves to 65-57 all-time.
 
St. Mary's remains on the road, playing at Western New Mexico on Friday, Oct. 13 at 6 p.m. (MT). The Mustangs lost in five sets at UT Permian Basin on Monday evening.