Volleyball Kicks Off LSC Action on Wednesday

This Week in Rattlers Volleyball
Wednesday, Sept. 25 • Texas A&M Kingsville (8-3) at St. Mary's (8-3) • 6 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 28 • St. Mary's at Sul Ross State (0-6) • 2 p.m.

Conference Play Begins: The St. Mary's Volleyball team wrapped up the non-conference slate and turns its attention to Lone Star Conference play, hosting Texas A&M Kingsville on Wednesday before traveling to newcomer Sul Ross State for a Saturday afternoon match.

Bring Out The Brooms: The Rattlers swept all three matches of the LSC Preview, winning in straight sets over Oklahoma Christian, Cameron and St. Edward's. The Rattlers hit .303 for the week with 16.56 kills, 2.44 aces, 19.78 digs and 1.78 blocks per set. 

It's An Honor: For the second-straight week, the Rattlers earned a Player of the Week honor from the Lone Star Conference office as Alyssa Koehl was named Defensive Player of the Week. Koehl averaged 5.89 digs and 1.22 assists per set and added three aces. It is the second weekly award of Koehl's career. A week ago, Cali Nims was named Setter of the Week with 10.53 assists and 1.27 kills per set at the Rattler Invitational.

All-Time vs TAMUK: St. Mary's holds a slight 33-31 edge in the all-time series with Texas A&M Kingsville that began in 1978. The Rattlers are 17-7 at home against the Javelinas and snapped a nine-match losing skid to TAMUK in the final match of 2023. The two teams have no common opponents in 2024.

All-Time vs SRS: The Rattlers are 3-1 against the newest team in the Lone Star, Sul Ross State. The two teams played in 1979, 1992 and 1993 before skipping 30 years. The two teams met a season ago at the Iceman Invitational, a 3-0 sweep for the Rattlers. This will be the first-ever meeting in Alpine between the clubs and the two haven't met any similar opponents in 2024.

Taking Care of Business: Senior Cali Nims started the match on Saturday against St. Edward's with 99 career service aces and wasted no time hitting triple digits, serving an ace on the first point of the match. She became the 13th player to have 100 aces in St. Mary's history. Nims is also now only four assists from becoming the sixth StMU setter with 2,000 career assists.

Lucky Number 17?: Both Cali Nims and Alyssa Koehl rank second in the Lone Star Conference and 17th in the nation in their respective specialties. Nims is averaging 10.73 assists per set, while Koehl is getting 5.32 digs per set. Nims also ranks 15th in total assists with 440 this season, while Koehl is 14th with 218 digs.

High-Efficiency Hitters: Against Cameron on Friday evening, 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: 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 1,101 digs and has jumped all the way to 12th on the St. Mary's career charts as she began the year 20th with 883.

Digging It: According to the NCAA website, there are 84 current Division II players with 1,000 career digs and St. Mary's libero Alyssa Koehl is one of only eight juniors on the list. The remaining 76 are seniors, including six from the Lone Star. 

Name    School    Digs
Daylee Doggett    DBU    1,843
Bryli Contreras    WT    1,188
Caleigh Enax    ASU    1,164
Alyssa Koehl    StMU    1,101
Addison Evans    UTT    1,091
Lixai Perez    TAMIU    1,068
Getsamani Carrasco    WT    1,042

Double Trouble: Both junior outside hitter Landri Withers and senior setter Cali Nims have posted six double-doubles each in the 11 matches 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.

All-Tournament: At the first tournament of the season, both senior Alicia Virthe and junior Laurene Robinson were named to the Reddie-Tiger Invitational All-Tournament team. Virthe hit .287 for the week and tied her career-high with 20 kills in the season opener, while Robinson led the team with 3.47 kills per set and either tied or recorded a new career high in kills in three of the four matches. At the Rattler Invitational last week, senior setter Cali Nims and junior libero Alyssa Koehl were honored on the all-tournament squad. Nims averaged 10.53 assists, 2.21 digs and 1.27 kills per set and helped the team hit .232. Koehl averaged 5.80 digs and recorded a career-best 36 digs against Anderson.

Going Streaking: Alyssa Koehl has collected 10 or more digs in all 11 matches this season and in 26 in a row. Koehl has posted 10 or more in 59 of the 66 matches she's played for the Gold and Blue. Landri Withers had her streak snapped at 13 straight after tallying five in the win over St. Edward's.

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    23
Alyssa Koehl    Assists    250    2
Alyssa Koehl    Digs    11th place    38
Cali Nims    Assists    2,000    4
Cali Nims    Aces    10th place    4
Alicia Virthe    Kills    600    18
Alicia Virthe    Blocks    100    5
Landri Withers    Digs    600    33
Laura Ulrich    Wins    50    2