Volleyball Wins Both on Day One

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. ­— The St. Mary's Volleyball team showed grit in the first two matches of the 2024 season, winning in five sets against McKendree and four sets over Southeastern Oklahoma State on Friday.
 
The Rattlers (2-0) dropped the opening set in both matches but battled back to sweep the first day of the season. StMU continues play at the Tiger-Reddie Invitational on Saturday, facing host Henderson State and Missouri S&T.
 
McKendree Recap
Seniors Alicia Virthe (Orlando, Fla.) and Cali Nims (Corpus Christi, Texas) each tied a career-high in helping lift the Rattlers to a five-set win against McKendree in the season opener. St. Mary's won 23-25, 25-17, 25-16, 21-25, 15-10 for its third season-opening win in the last four years.
 
Virthe smashed 20 kills on 40 swings, hitting .450 (20-2-40) to lead all players in the match. Nims posted 46 assists and tallied the 30th double-double of her career with 17 digs.
 
Junior Laurene Robinson (Bedford, Texas) made sure she got in on the career-high-tying action, posting 13 kills to knot her high from 2022 at Texas A&M Kingsville.
 
Junior Alyssa Koehl (New Braunfels, Texas) tied for match-high honors in digs with 19, while junior Landri Withers (Stephenville, Texas) also was in double figures with 15 digs.
 
Nims fed Virthe early, as she notched two kills in the first three points as the Rattlers jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first set. The Bearcats fought back to tie the score at 8-8 and went on to win 25-23.
 
The Rattlers pulled away in both the second and third sets after early ties. Virthe had six kills on 10 swings in the second stanza, while she was 5-for-7 with no errors in the third set. In the fourth set, the two teams went back-and-forth throughout, seeing 16 ties and six lead changes before the Bearcats pulled out the 25-21 win. 
 
StMU trailed 6-4 in the fifth set when Koehl stepped back to the service line and strung together eight straight points for a 12-6 advantage. Junior Dallasstar Johnson (San Antonio) had a huge solo block off the opposing middle blocker's head for match point. It was her fourth block of the morning to lead all players.
 
SEOSU Recap
After tying her career-high with 13 kills in the morning, Robinson established a new career-high, leading the team with 16 in the nightcap as the Rattlers won 11-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-19. Virthe also continued the strong start to the year, adding another 10 kills to her total.
 
Withers hit .348 for the match (9-1-23), while Koehl had almost twice as many digs as any other player on the court with 23 and Johnson once again led in blocks with three.
 
The win is the third-straight in the series against Southwestern Oklahoma State as StMU improves to 3-1 all-time.
 
The Rattler offense was only blocked one time in four sets and allowed only four aces to improve to 2-0.
 
Notes:

• Cali Nims tallied her 30th career double-double in the match against McKendree, which moves her into sole possession of sixth place in St. Mary's history. She is 10 away from tying Allie Murray (2009-12) and Bree Perry (2016-19) for fourth on the list.
• Alicia Virthe started her final season the exact same way she did her freshman year, with 20 kills in a five-set match on a neutral court. Virthe blasted 20 kills against Lubbock Christian on Sept. 3, 2021 in her first match for the Rattlers.
• Alyssa Koehl needs only 75 more digs to become the 16th player in St. Mary's history with 1,000 digs.
• Cali Nims recorded the 700th dig of her standout career in the opening win. She now has 718. She is also now 14 aces shy of 100.