This Week in Rattlers Volleyball
Friday, Nov. 1 • Lubbock Christian (11-9, 7-3) at St. Mary's (13-8, 5-5) • 6 p.m. • Alumni Night
Saturday, Nov. 2 • #14 Angelo State (19-2, 9-1) at St. Mary's • 2 p.m. • Senior Day
Home Sweet Home: The St. Mary's Volleyball team returns home after four straight matches on the road to host Lubbock Christian on Friday for Alumni Night and No. 14 Angelo State on Saturday for Senior Day.
The Best in the Lone Star: Junior libero Alyssa Koehl recorded the highest dig total in the Lone Star Conference this season and the ninth-highest in DII with her 41 digs at Eastern New Mexico on Friday. Her 51 digs on the week, move her up one spot into eighth in St. Mary's history with 1,321 digs, passing Erika Bolk (1998-02) who dug up 1,299 in her career.
All-Time vs Lubbock Christian: St. Mary's holds a slight 12-11 lead in the all-time series with Lubbock Christian that dates back to 1992. The teams have been in the same conference since 2013, where LCU holds a 10-6 lead and the Rattlers are 3-5 all-time in San Antonio. A season ago, the Lady Chaps won a four-set match inside Bill Greehey Arena, snapping a three-match winning streak for the Gold and Blue.
All-Time vs Angelo State: The Rambelles hold a 26-16 advantage in the series that started two years after the addition of volleyball at StMU: 1978. Angelo State has won the last two meetings between the clubs, but the Rattlers hold an 8-6 lead in San Antonio - including a win in the last meeting in 2022.
AC Smashes Career High: Senior Alicia Virthe recorded a career-high 25 kills on Friday at Eastern New Mexico, bettering her previous high of 20 from the opening match of both this season and her freshman year. She hit .423 for the match (25-3-52). Her 25 kills ties for the fifth-highest total in the Lone Star Conference this season and ties for the third most in St. Mary's rally scoring history.
Lucky Number 13: Alyssa Koehl is averaging 5.62 digs per set this season, which leads the Lone Star Conference and ranks 13th in the nation. Her 438 total digs also ranks 14th in the Division II statistics. She's reached double figures in every match this season, in 36 in a row, and 69 times in her career.Â
Climbing the Charts: Senior setter Cali Nims has 828 assists this season, for an average of 10.62 per set, which ranks third in the Lone Star Conference. Her 828 assists also rank 14th in St. Mary's single-season history and fourth in rally scoring, as well as second-most in the Lone Star this season, only four behind Kayton Genebacher from Lubbock Christian.
Double Digit Kills: Both senior Alicia Virthe and junior Landri Withers have recorded 10 or more kills 36 times in their career and are now tied for 10th all-time at St. Mary's with Yasmin Elkhatib (2000-03). Breann Alexander (2000-02) holds the all-time record, getting to double digits 84 times in her career.
Oh, So Close: Junior Landri Withers now has 731 kills in her career, needing only five more to appear in the top 20 in school history. Leslie Arnold (1997-00) currently holds down the No. 20 spot with 735.
Consistency Is Key: Senior Alicia Virthe has collected at least eight kills in each of the last 15 matches for the Rattlers, leading the team with 3.42 kills per set. Her .302 hitting percentage also ranks second on the club and her 3.42 kills per set ranks eighth in the Lone Star Conference.Â
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. 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.Â
On Pace: St. Mary's is averaging 13.45 kills per set this season, which ranks sixth in the Lone Star Conference and 38th 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 Rattlers are also on pace to break the school's single season hitting percentage record.
Now Appearing: Senior setter Cali Nims moved into the top 20 in digs last week and now has 928, 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 41 (assists-digs) in her career, while Withers is currently tied for ninth with 25 (kills-digs). Nims needs three more to tie former teammate Alissa Tolbert (2018-21) for third all-time with 44.
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 1,321 digs and has jumped all the way to 8th 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 2,384 assists and 10th with 107 service aces.
Digging It: According to the NCAA website, there are 127 current Division II players with 1,000 career digs and St. Mary's libero Alyssa Koehl is one of only 20 juniors on the list. There are seven active players in the Lone Star to have reached the 1,000-dig milestone. Koehl ranks 46th among active DII players with 1,321.
Name   School   Digs
6. Daylee Doggett   DBU   2,001
40. Caleigh Enax   ASU   1,365
43. Bryli Contreras   WT   1,336
46. Alyssa Koehl   StMU   1,321
56. Addison Evans   UTT   1,266
62. Lixai Perez   TAMIU   1,240
83. Riley Daugherty   OC   1,139
95. Getsamani Carrasco   WT   1,109
