Volleyball Sweeps Pair at Iceman Invitational

ODESSA, Texas – The St. Mary's University Volleyball team stretched its winning streak to nine straight sets and three consecutive matches with sweeps over Minnesota-Crookston (25-19, 25-19, 25-21) and Sul Ross State (25-18, 25-17, 25-16) on Friday at the Iceman Invitational, hosted by UT Permian Basin.
 
The Rattlers are now 5-2 on the season. The nine-straight sets won are the longest streak of the year and the longest since they won 11 in a row last October.
 
The team closes out the tournament on Saturday at 1 p.m. against host UT Permian Basin in a non-conference match. The Falcons are 5-1 on the season with wins over UMC (3-0) and Eastern New Mexico (3-1) in the tournament.
 
UMC RECAP
Distributing the ball well seems to be the key to the Rattler offense early, and it paid off on Friday morning as four tallied five or more kills in the sweep over Minnesota-Crookston. 
 
Sophomore Landri Withers (Stephenville, Texas) led the match with 13 kills, and she narrowly missed a double-double with nine digs. Junior Alicia Virthe (Orlando, Fla.) smashed nine kills, while freshman Kelly Swyers (Austin, Texas) chipped in seven, and sophomore Dallasstar Johnson (San Antonio) added six. 
 
Johnson also led the team with three blocks. Junior setter Cali Nims (Corpus Christi, Texas) continued her strong serving, adding three more service aces to her total, while freshman Haleigh Wilk (Salado, Texas) had two. Nims also had a team-high 20 assists.
 
Sophomore libero Alyssa Koehl (New Braunfels, Texas) notched her sixth-straight double-figure dig performance with a team-best 18 and sophomore Isabella Waggoner (Texas City, Texas) added 10 for her second double-digit total of the year.
 
The Golden Eagles were led by Audrey Cariveau with 11 kills and Kailey Waasdorp with 22 digs. They managed only two service aces against the Rattlers defense.
 
The Rattlers were extremely efficient in the first set, making only one unforced hitting error and hitting .481 as a team in the 25-19 win. The middle blockers, Disponette (4) and Johnson (5), combined for nine kills on 11 swings with no errors (.909). Nims also added a pair of ace serves – on the first and last points of the set.
 
In the second set, the errors crept in a bit more, but the Rattlers were able to overcome winning by the identical 25-19 score. The block party also got started for the Gold and Blue as they blocked four in the set, including three straight early in the set. Trailing 6-5, Disponette and Virthe combined for one, while Johnson and Withers had the next and Johnson and Virthe the third to give the team the 7-6 advantage. UMC scored the next point to knot the score, but the Rattlers never trailed again.
 
Withers put on an offensive show in the third and final set, recording seven kills on 13 swings. The Golden Eagles also continued to pick on her in serve receive, serving at her eight times, but she remained steady, passing all eight successfully. 
 
SRSU RECAP
The Rattlers kept things rolling on Friday evening with the sweep over the Lobos. 
 
Virthe paced the team with 10 kills, while senior Brianna Morris-Worth (Yukon, Okla.) and Johnson added nine each. Morris-Worth also led the club with two blocks.
 
For the sixth time in seven matches, the Rattlers recorded more service aces than errors, notching six. Both Nims and Koehl had a pair, while Nims added 20 assists and Koehl led the team with 17 digs. 
 
Despite only hitting .086 in the opening set, the Rattlers managed to distance themselves late with a 25-18 victory, forcing Sul Ross State to hit negative .059.
 
The blocks again came alive in the second set as StMU tallied four. Morris-Worth and Virthe each had four kills apiece as the Rattlers held the lead for much of the set. The Gold and Blue stepped up the offense, hitting .316 in the second set.
 
In the final stanza, the Rattlers sided out at a 75% clip, not allowing the Lobos to go on any long scoring runs to put SRSU away, 25-16. Johnson was a perfect 5-for-5 on kill opportunities and the team hit .387 – the highest hitting percentage of the night.