Deja vu... Volleyball Hosts OC and CU for Second Time This Year

This Week in Rattlers Volleyball
Friday, Oct. 4 • Oklahoma Christian (8-5, 0-2) at St. Mary's (10-3, 2-0) • 6 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 5 • Cameron (0-12, 0-2) at St. Mary's • 2 p.m.
 
Home Again: After a quick one-match road trip, the Rattlers return home to begin a four-match home stretch, beginning with Oklahoma Christian and Cameron for the second time. The two clubs return to Bill Greehey Arena for Lone Star Conference matches after playing in the LSC Preview on the 19th and 20th of September.
 
Milestone Win: Not only was the win at Sul Ross State on Saturday the first between the teams in LSC play, it was the 50th win of Head Coach Laura Ulrich's career. Ulrich is now 50-43 in her fourth season with the Rattlers. She already ranks sixth by wins among the 11 coaches in StMU history, and her .538 winning percentage ranks fourth.
 
Bring Out The Brooms: The Rattlers have swept the previous five 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 OC: With the sweep two weeks ago, the Rattlers are now 4-1 all-time against Oklahoma Christian. St. Mary's is 2-0 at Bill Greehey Arena and 2-1 in Lone Star Conference play. The Eagles added volleyball back as a sport in 2020 before the pandemic struck, however the two teams did not compete in the shortened spring season. The two teams met in the first week of the 2021 season - a thrilling five-set win for the Rattlers at OC.
 
All-Time vs Cameron: The Rattlers improved to 13-3 in the all-time series against the Aggies with the sweep two weeks ago. StMU is also a perfect 5-0 at home against Cameron and have won four in a row. The two teams first played back in 1980, but skipped 19 years between meetings, next playing in 1999. Since StMU joined the Lone Star, the Rattlers hold a 3-1 edge in conference match-ups.
 
Block Party: In each of the last three matches sophomore Olivia Rubio has tied her career-high with four blocks and she has 15 stops in her last four matches (1.25/set), increasing her season average from 0.55 to 0.81 blocks per set.
 
Off to a Good Start: For only the second time in school history, the Rattlers have started Lone Star Conference play 2-0. StMU also began 2-0 in 2020, however that team, which played in the spring of 2021, dropped its next 10 in a row. The Rattlers have never won the first three since joining the LSC in 2019 and the last time they started a league 3-0 was in 2000 in the Heartland Conference when the Rattlers were 8-0.
 
It's An Honor: The Rattlers earned a Player of the Week honor from the Lone Star Conference office two straight weeks as Alyssa Koehl was named Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 23 and Cali Nims was named Setter of the Week on Sept. 16. Koehl averaged 5.89 digs and 1.22 assists per set and added three aces. Nims averaged 10.53 assists and 1.27 kills per set at the Rattler Invitational.
 
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 rank second in aces/set (1.94), assists/set (13.32), hitting percentage (.245), kills/set (14.02), and attacks/set (38.68). They also rank third in digs/set (17.26) and are fifth in blocks/set (1.94). Individually, Alyssa Koehl leads the league and is 12th nationally with 5.57 digs/set, while Cali Nims is second in the LSC and 16th nationally with 11.02 assists/set. Alicia Virthe is third in the league and 69th in points/set (4.13) and Dallasstar Johnson is fourth in the LSC with 1.00 blocks/set.
 
High-Efficiency Hitters: In the first meeting against Cameron, junior Dallasstar Johnson hit .647 (12-1-17) to register the sixth-best hitting percentage in school history in a three-set match. The next day, senior Alicia Virthe hit .640 (16-0-25) to land one spot behind Johnson on the list. 
 
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 1,145 digs and has jumped all the way to 11th on the St. Mary's career charts as she began the year 20th with 883. 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 2,074 assists and 12th with 101 service aces.
 
Digging It: According to the NCAA website, there are 90 current Division II players with 1,000 career digs and St. Mary's libero Alyssa Koehl is one of only nine juniors on the list. The remaining 81 are seniors, including six from the Lone Star. Koehl ranks 54th among active DII players with 1,145.
 
Name   School Digs
5. Daylee Doggett           DBU      1,865
44. Caleigh Enax             ASU       1,224
45. Bryli Contreras         WT         1,221
54. Alyssa Koehl            StMU    1,145
56. Addison Evans         UTT        1,130
65. Lixai Perez  TAMIU   1,106
80. Getsamani Carrasco             WT         1,055
 
Double Trouble: Both junior outside hitter Landri Withers and senior setter Cali Nims have posted six double-doubles each this season. Withers passed former teammate Aislan Lennon (2020-23) and moved into a tie for 11th all-time with Jennifer Cabanilla, who had 11 in her one year with the Rattlers (2000). Nims ranks sixth on the same list with her 35 double-doubles and is five shy of moving into a tie for fourth.
 
Going Streaking: Alyssa Koehl has collected 10 or more digs in all 13 matches this season and in 28 in a row. Koehl has posted 10 or more in 61 of the 68 matches she's played for the Gold and Blue. 
 
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. The Rattlers return 92.6% of their kills, 90.1% of aces, 93.4% of digs and 90.6% of its blocks from the 2023 squad.
 
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          17
Dallas Johnson Kills       500        65
Alyssa Koehl      Digs       10th place          24
Cali Nims           Assists 5th place            362
Cali Nims           Aces      10th place          4
Olivia Rubio       Kills       100        36
Alicia Virthe       Blocks  100        2
Isabella Waggoner         Digs       300        35
Landri Withers Digs       600        20