This Week in Rattlers Volleyball
Friday, Oct. 11 • UT Tyler (7-5, 4-0) at St. Mary's (12-3, 4-0) • 6 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 12 • DBU (9-5, 3-1) at St. Mary's • 2 p.m.
Tough Test: The St. Mary's Volleyball team remains home for its toughest weekend in Lone Star Conference play, facing fellow undefeated UT Tyler on Friday and DBU, which fell out of the national rankings this week, on Saturday afternoon.
It's An Honor: Sophomore outside hitter Landri Withers became the third Rattler this season to earn Lone Star Conference Player of the Week honors and the first-ever to earn Offensive honors. She helped the Rattlers remain undefeated in Lone Star play and improve to 12-3 overall with their sixth- and seventh-consecutive sweeps over Oklahoma Christian and Cameron. She hit .474 for the week, averaging 5.00 kills per set and 2.73 digs per set, committing only three errors in the six sets from the left side. She joins Cali Nims (Setter, Sept. 16) and Alyssa Koehl (Defense, Sept. 23) as honorees by the league this season.
Bring Out The Brooms: The Rattlers have swept the previous seven opponents, the longest stretch in school history since the 2000 team won 11 straight in three sets. That team went on to win both the Heartland Conference regular season and conference tournament but were ineligible for NCAA play as it was the team's first in Division II.
All-Time vs UT Tyler: UT Tyler holds a slight 2-1 lead in the all-time series with St. Mary's, though the Rattlers won a five-set thriller last year at Trinity's Bell Center. The series began in 2021 and this will be the third home match for the Gold and Blue.
All-Time vs DBU: The Rattlers trail 26-17 in the series with DBU and have dropped the last four meetings. StMU is 6-11 at home against the Patriots and this will be the first match inside Bill Greehey since the two teams joined the Lone Star Conference (last season was played at the NISD Fieldhouse).
On Pace: St. Mary's is averaging 14.15 kills per set this season, which leads the Lone Star Conference and ranks 12th in all of Division II. The average would also break the school's modern day scoring format record, which is currently 12.90 by the 2012 team. The overall record is 15.42 by the 2002 squad. The Rattlers are also on pace to smash the school's single season hitting percentage record. The team is hitting .256, over 20 points better than the record of .235 by the 2000 team and the 25-point rally scoring record of .196 by the 2014 club.
Low Error: Against Cameron on Saturday, the Rattlers committed only six unforced hitting errors in the match, hitting a season-best .402 (41-8-82). That number also ranks fifth in school history and third in modern-day for a three-set match. It was only the fifth time this season in the Lone Star Conference a team hit over .400 in a match and three of the five have been by DBU.
Block Party: In each of the last five matches sophomore Olivia Rubio has tied her career-high with four blocks or set a new career-high with six (vs Cameron) and she has 25 stops in her last six matches (1.39/set), increasing her season average from 0.55 to 0.95 blocks per set, which ranks fourth in the Lone Star Conference and leads the team.
Milestone Win: Not only was the win at Sul Ross State the first between the teams in LSC play, it was the 50th win of Head Coach Laura Ulrich's career. Ulrich is now 52-43 in her fourth season with the Rattlers. She already ranks sixth by wins among the 11 coaches in StMU history, and her .547 winning percentage ranks fourth.
Off to a Good Start: For the first time in school history, the Rattlers have started Lone Star Conference play 4-0, and its the first time since the 2000 team was a perfect 8-0 in Heartland Conference play that a team has won the first four matches in league action.
It's in the Numbers: St. Mary's currently ranks in the top six in the Lone Star Conference in every statistical category. The Rattlers lead in assists/set (13.32) and kills/set (14.15), rank second in aces/set (1.91), hitting percentage (.256), and digs/set (17.36). Individually, Alyssa Koehl leads the league and is 11th nationally with 5.57 digs/set, while Cali Nims is second in the LSC and 14th nationally with 11.17 assists/set. Alicia Virthe is third in the league and 55th in points/set (4.21) and Olivia Rubio and Dallasstar Johnson rank fourth and fifth, respectively in the LSC with 0.95 and 0.94 blocks/set.
Ain't It Grand x2: Junior libero Alyssa Koehl became the first Rattler since 2018 and the 16th ever to record 1,000 digs in a career, with her first dig in the second set against East Central. Koehl now has 1,178 digs and has jumped all the way to 10th on the St. Mary's career charts. Senior setter Cali Nims made it a double-grand when she recorded the 2,000th assist of her career in the win over Texas A&M Kingsville. Nims currently ranks sixth with 2,148 assists and 12th with 102 service aces.
Digging It: According to the NCAA website, there are 101 current Division II players with 1,000 career digs and St. Mary's libero Alyssa Koehl is one of only 11 juniors on the list. The remaining 90 are seniors, including seven from the Lone Star. Koehl ranks 54th among active DII players with 1,178.
Name   School   Digs
T4. Daylee Doggett   DBU   1,903
43. Bryli Contreras   WT   1,261
45. Caleigh Enax   ASU   1,253
54. Alyssa Koehl   StMU   1,178
55. Addison Evans   UTT   1,171
65. Lixai Perez   TAMIU   1,133
66. RIley Daugherty   OC   1,130
82. Getsamani Carrasco   WT   1,076
Double Trouble: Both junior outside hitter Landri Withers and senior setter Cali Nims have posted seven double-doubles each this season. Withers passed Jennifer Cabanilla, who had 11 in her one year with the Rattlers (2000) and now ranks 11th. Nims ranks sixth on the same list with her 36 double-doubles and is four shy of moving into a tie for fourth.
Going Streaking: Alyssa Koehl has collected 10 or more digs in all 15 matches this season and in 30 in a row. Koehl has posted 10 or more in 63 of the 70 matches she's played for the Gold and Blue.Â
Middle of the Pack: The Rattlers were picked ninth in the 17-team LSC Preseason poll. St. Mary's returns all seven starters off last season's club that was 12-15, but ended on a high-note, winning two of its final three matches. The seniors on the 2024 team are DS Leah Cruz, OH Brianna Morris-Worth, S Cali Nims and RS Alicia Virthe.
Closing In: Several Rattlers are closing in on career milestones or are close to moving up the career leaders list in St. Mary's history:
Name   Category   Milestone   Needs
Dallas Johnson   Blocks   12th place   14
Dallas Johnson   Kills   500   56
Alyssa Koehl   Digs   9th place   16
Cali Nims   Assists   5th place   288
Cali Nims   Aces   10th place   4
Olivia Rubio   Kills   100   25
Isabella Waggoner   Digs   300   25
Landri Withers   Digs   600   3
