Volleyball Heads West for Two

This Week in Rattlers Volleyball
Friday, Oct. 25 • St. Mary's (12-7, 4-4) at Eastern New Mexico (3-16, 0-8) • 7 p.m. CT/6 p.m. MT
Saturday, Oct. 26 • St. Mary's at #8 West Texas A&M (15-3, 8-0) • 2 p.m.

Staying on the Road: The St. Mary's Volleyball team plays matches three and four of a four-game road swing this weekend, beginning at Eastern New Mexico on Friday before taking on eighth-ranked West Texas A&M on Saturday.

All-Time vs Eastern New Mexico: St. Mary's holds an 11-7 advantage in the all-time series against Eastern New Mexico and has won all four matches since the Rattlers joined the Lone Star Conference. StMU is 1-2 in Portales, however this is only the second time the team has made the trip since joining the league. The first ever meeting between the teams was in Portales in 1992 - a straight-sets win for the Greyhounds.

All-Time vs West Texas A&M: The Lady Buffs hold a commanding 25-2 lead in the all-time series that began in 1999. The Rattlers will be searching for their first-ever win in Canyon in their 15th attempt. Saturday will be the third-straight time the Rattlers have faced the Lady Buffs when they're ranked inside the top-10, as WT is #8 this week in the AVCA poll.

Double Digit Kills: Both senior Alicia Virthe and junior Landri Withers have recorded 10 or more kills 35 times in their career and are one more away from appearing in the top-10 in St. Mary's history. Yasmin Elkhatib (2000-03) currently holds down the 10th spot on the charts with 36 matches with double figure kills. Breann Alexander (2000-02) holds the all-time record, getting to double digits 84 times in her career.

Double Digit Digs: On defense, junior libero Alyssa Koehl has hit double digits in every match this season and 67 times in her career, with 34 in a row, moving her into a tie for fifth in St. Mary's history. Koehl tied Breann Alexander (2000-02) and is now 40 shy of the all-time mark of 107 by Victorria Martinez (2011-14). 

Consistency Is Key: Senior Alicia Virthe has collected at least eight kills in each of the last 13 matches for the Rattlers, leading the team with 3.34 kills per set. Her .297 hitting percentage also ranks second on the club and her 3.34 kills per set ranks 10th in the Lone Star Conference. 

A Rare Occurrence: Senior Cali Nims became only the fourth setter in school history to record 40 assists and 20 digs in the same match, as she had 42 assists and a career-high 20 digs at Texas Woman's on Friday. Kristelle Rodriguez (1999-02) recorded the feat five times, while Allie Murray (2009-12) did so twice, and Ashley Bird (2002-05) did so once. 

On Pace: St. Mary's is averaging 13.79 kills per set this season, which ranks third in the Lone Star Conference and 27th 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 break the school's single season hitting percentage record. The team is hitting .239, slightly better than the record of .235 by the 2000 team and the 25-point rally scoring record of .196 by the 2014 club.

Now Appearing: Senior setter Cali Nims moved into the top 20 in digs last week and now has 903, becoming one of only three setters in school history with 2,000 assists and 900 digs. Kristelle Rodriguez (1999-02) had 5,310 assists and 1,426 digs, while Allie Murray (2009-12) recorded 2,435 assists and 1,193 digs.

Double Trouble: Both senior setter Cali Nims and junior outside hitter Landri Withers rank in the top 10 in St. Mary's history in double-doubles. Nims is tied for fourth with 40 (assists-digs) in her career, while Withers is currently 10th with 24 (kills-digs). Nims needs four more to tie former teammate Alissa Tolbert (2018-21) for third all-time with 44, while Withers is one shy of tying for ninth.

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 when she was honored on Oct. 8. She joins Cali Nims (Setter, Sept. 16) and Alyssa Koehl (Defense, Sept. 23) as honorees by the league this season.

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 52-47 in her fourth season with the Rattlers. She already ranks sixth by wins among the 11 coaches in StMU history.

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 1,270 digs and has jumped all the way to 9th 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 2,311 assists and tied for 10th with 105 service aces.

Digging It: According to the NCAA website, there are 113 current Division II players with 1,000 career digs and St. Mary's libero Alyssa Koehl is one of only 16 juniors on the list. The remaining 97 are seniors, including seven from the Lone Star. Koehl ranks 50th among active DII players with 1,270.

Name    School    Digs

6. Daylee Doggett    DBU    1,966

42. Caleigh Enax    ASU    1,321

45. Bryli Contreras    WT    1,308

50. Alyssa Koehl    StMU    1,270

55. Addison Evans    UTT    1,238

62. Lixai Perez    TAMIU    1,208

80. Riley Daugherty    OC    1,139

89. Getsamani Carrasco    WT    1,096

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. 

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

Leah Cruz    Digs    400    36

Alyssa Koehl    Digs    8th place    30

Brianna Morris-Worth    Kills    400    33

Cali Nims    Assists    5th place    125

Cali Nims    Kills    100    3

Olivia Rubio    Kills    100    5

Alicia Virthe    Kills    700    22

Alicia Virthe    Digs    200    1

Isabella Waggoner    Digs    300    5

Landri Withers    Kills    20th place    23