Volleyball Fights Back for Big Five-Set Win Over UT Tyler

SAN ANTONIO — It's not how you start, it's how you finish, and the St. Mary's University Volleyball team finished with a bang on Friday evening, defeating UT Tyler in five sets, 8-25, 25-22, 13-25, 25-21, 15-7.
 
The Rattlers (11-14, 6-8 Lone Star Conference) used an extremely well-balanced attack to beat the Patriots (14-10, 8-5 Lone Star) for the first time ever. Freshmen Olivia Rubio (San Antonio) and Kelly Swyers (Austin) and sophomore Laurene Robinson (Bedford, Texas) each had nine kills. Sophomores Dallasstar Johnson (San Antonio) and Landri Withers (Stephenville, Texas) added eight kills each.
 
Rubio's nine kills smashes her previous career high of two from last week against Texas A&M International and she added a team-high four blocks. Rubio was also efficient, recording the nine kills on 14 swings with one error for a .571 hitting percentage. 
 
Johnson and Withers also only had one hitting error each, as Johnson (8-1-19) hit .368 and Withers (8-1-20) hit .350 as the team hit .244 on the afternoon.
 
Sophomore libero Alyssa Koehl (New Braunfels, Texas) led the match with 22 digs and a team-best four aces, breaking the 20-dig milestone for the sixth time this year. She and UT Tyler libero Addison Evans both played high school ball at Canyon HS and are one year apart. Evans ended the match with 14 digs and a match-high six aces.
 
After hitting negative in the first set, the Rattlers settled in and got stronger each set, hitting a blistering .533 with no errors in the fifth-and-deciding set.
 
The win snaps a five-match losing skid for the Rattlers which has two more matches remaining. They host DBU on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Paul Taylor Fieldhouse and they close the season on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Bill Greehey Arena.