Numbers, Numbers Everywhere as Volleyball Splits Day Two of Rattler Invitational

SAN ANTONIO – Achievements abounded for the St. Mary's University Volleyball team on the second day of the Rattler Invitational. The Rattlers split the day, sweeping East Central 25-19, 25-15, 25-21 before dropping a long five-set thriller to Anderson 25-13, 26-24, 14-25, 18-25, 15-17.
 
Junior Alyssa Koehl (New Braunfels, Texas) became the 16th player in St. Mary's history to record 1,000 digs in a career, doing so with her first dig in the second set against East Central. She ended that match with 17 and followed that up with a career-best 36 digs against Anderson and now has 1,048 to move into 15th on the career charts.
 
Fellow junior Dallasstar Johnson (San Antonio) led the ECU match with four blocks and notched the 200th of her career with her second of the morning, becoming only the 16th player at St. Mary's to accomplish the feat. She added a season-high eight against Anderson to climb to 13th on the school's career list, passing a trio of former Rattlers. Her eight blocks also tie for the fifth-most in a five-set match in the modern scoring format.
 
Koehl and junior setter Cali Nims (Corpus Christi, Texas) were both named to the All-Tournament team after the conclusion of the tournament. Koehl amassed 87 digs in the four matches over the weekend (5.8/set), while Nims averaged 10.53 assists/set, 2.20 digs/set and the Rattlers hit .232 as a team.
 
The Rattlers host the Lone Star Conference Challenge beginning on Thursday as St. Edward's at Cameron square off at 3 p.m. and the Rattlers host Oklahoma Christian at 6 p.m.
 
EAST CENTRAL RECAP
The Rattlers recorded their first sweep of the season with the win over East Central. The team hit a season-high .325 for the match (50-11-120), making only seven unforced errors in the three sets.
 
With her final kill on match point, junior outside hitter Landri Withers (Stephenville, Texas) recorded the 600th kill of her career and led the team with 13 of them. Senior Alicia Virthe (Orlando, Fla.) was also in double digits with 11. Withers chipped in 10 digs for another double-double, while Nims collected 12 with 41 assists for her 32nd career double-double.
 
The pair of middle blockers combined for only one hitting error on 20 swings, as sophomore Olivia Rubio (San Antonio) hit .667 (7-1-9) and Johnson hit .818 (9-0-11).
 
a pair of high school teammates were pitted against each other as ECU's Faiana Halatoa and Rattlers' junior Laurene Robinson (Bedford, Texas) both played at Trinity High School in Euless, Texas.
 
ANDERSON RECAP
The Rattlers jumped out to a 2-0 set lead, but the Trojans battled back to win the final three sets as both teams finished 2-2 at the tournament. Two of the five sets need extra points to decide a winner, with each team winning one.
 
Koehl put on a defensive clinic, flying all over the court to notched 36 digs. That total is the eighth-most in a five-set match in school history, the fourth-most in the modern scoring format (since 2008) and the most overall in a match since Monica Ramon posted 37 in a four-setter at DBU in 2018.
 
Senior Leah Cruz (Laredo, Texas) added a season-high 13 digs, while Withers added 11 and for the second time this week had 40 receptions. Virthe led the team with 16 kills and Robinson chipped in 11.
 
The two clubs totaled 34 tie scores and 13 lead changes through the five sets, including 15 ties and six lead changes in the second set. 
 
2024 Rattler Invitational All-Tournament Team
Emily Campbell, MB, Anderson
Odalys Gonzalez, OH, East Central
Rachel Gregg, MB, Tampa
Alyssa Koehl, L, St. Mary's
Emma Lade, S, Texas A&M International
Cali Nims, S, St. Mary's
Lixai Perez, L, Texas A&M International
Ava Reeves, OH, Anderson
Zoey Seput, S, Tampa
Emma Strickland, OH, East Central