SAN ANTONIO — In the final home match of the 2024 season, the St. Mary's University Volleyball team fought through a rough patch to win in five sets over Texas A&M International, 19-25, 25-18, 25-18, 15-25, 15-11.
The Rattlers improve to 16-10 overall and 8-7 in Lone Star Conference action, while the Dustdevils fall to 8-16 on the year and 5-10 in league play.
The Rattlers used a balanced attack with four players hitting double digits in kills, led by senior
Alicia Virthe (Orlando, Fla.) with 16. She also led the match with three service aces, keeping her second in the Lone Star Conference with 41 on the year.
Senior
Brianna Morris-Worth (Yukon, Okla.) added a season-high 15 kills, hitting .406 (15-2-32). She played in the middle during the first set and then transitioned to the left side for the final four sets. The fifth-year senior also put an exclamation point on the match, recording the final point on a kill in her final match in Bill Greehey Arena.
Junior
Landri Withers (Stephenville, Texas) added 13 kills, nine digs, four blocks and two aces, while sophomore
Madi Milligan (San Antonio) recorded a career-best 12 kills and hit a career-best .524 (12-1-21) on the night. She also tied for match-high honors with four blocks.
Senior
Cali Nims (Corpus Christi, Texas) notched the 45th double-double of her career in her final home match, amassing 51 assists and 11 digs. She inches ever closer to the 1,000-dig milestone with 984.
The Dustdevils came out firing on all cylinders in the first set, winning 25-19 while hitting .368 and siding out at an 85% clip. Mia Molina led the first set with six of her match-high 18 kills on the night.
The Rattlers flipped the script in the second set, hitting .355 and blocking four balls to hold TAMIU to a .098 hitting percentage. Sophomore
Olivia Rubio (San Antonio) disrupted the serve receive of the Dustdevils, serving nine times in the set – more than twice any other player on the court.
The Rattlers kept pushing through the third set, winning by an identical 25-18 score. Virthe accounted for 10 of the Rattlers' 25 points with seven kills and three aces as they held TAMIU to a .188 hitting percentage.
TAMIU refocused for the fourth set, forcing the Rattlers into more miscues, and getting the middle blockers more involved as Caitlyn Cornell posted six of her 16 kills in the stanza. Withers led the Rattlers with three kills.
After a service error by TAMIU tied the fifth set at 1-1, senior
Leah Cruz stepped to the service line and rattled off three straight points, getting an overpass on her first serve that Milligan crushed down and an ace to put the Rattlers up 4-1. The Dustdevils fought back to knot the score at 8-8, 9-9 and 10-10, but StMU scored five of the final six points with two kills each by Milligan and Morris-Worth for the 15-11 victory.
The Rattlers wrap up the regular season at St. Edward's in the annual Battle of the Saints on Saturday in Austin. The Hilltoppers were swept by Texas A&M-Kingsville on Wednesday night.Â
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