LAREDO, Texas — It's been almost 12 years since the St. Mary's University Volleyball team pulled off what they did in Laredo on Friday night, coming back to win in five after dropping the first two sets.
The Rattlers (7-9, 4-2) pulled off their second-straight five-set victory, defeating Texas A&M International (3-12, 1-5) 23-25, 27-29, 25-13, 25-22, 15-10. The last time StMU won a match after losing the first two sets was on Oct. 15, 2013, against Texas A&M-Kingsville in San Antonio (22-25, 21-25, 25-19, 25-20, 15-10).
Senior middle blocker
Dallasstar Johnson (San Antonio) almost notched a double-double, collecting 13 kills with a season-high nine blocks. Johnson made only one hitting error the entire night, ending with a .444 hitting percentage (13-1-27).
Both seniors
Landri Withers (Stephenville, Texas) and
Laurene Robinson (Bedford, Texas) also ended in double digits in kills, as Withers led the team with 16 and Robinson chipped in 14. The pair also recorded double-doubles with 18 and 15 digs, respectively. The 15 digs for Robinson is a career-high, bettering the 14 she totaled against DBU on Sept. 19, while Withers led the team with three aces and moved into the top 20 in school history with the 85th of her career.
Junior setter
Haleigh Wilk (Salado, Texas) posted her fifth double-double of the year, despite not playing the first set, ending with a match-high 28 assists and 10 digs.
Senior libero
Alyssa Koehl (New Braunfels, Texas) led the team with 23 digs – topping the 20-dig plateau for the ninth time this year – while fellow senior back row specialist
Isabella Waggoner (Texas City, Texas) chipped in 12 digs, as the Rattlers won the back row battle by one, 93-to-92. Koehl topped the 1,800 dig milestone in the fifth set and now has 1,803.
The Rattlers' defense held the Dustdevils to a .107 hitting percentage, holding them under .100 in each of the final three sets, including -.024 in the third and .000 in the fifth and deciding set.
Set 1
An uncharacteristic five service errors in the first set by the Rattlers helped give the Dustdevils the first set victory, 25-23. Withers led all players with five kills, while freshman
Tara Creekmore (Canton, Mich.) and Johnson each added three as StMU collected four more kills than TAMIU, 16-12.
Set 2
The Dustdevils went on an 8-0 run late in the set to close within one, 21-20, before Withers stopped the streak on a crazy tip that fell for a kill. The teams tied at every point from 23 to 27 before TAMIU scored the final two points to take a 2-0 lead, 29-27.
Set 3
The Rattlers flipped the script, using a 13-1 run behind the disruptive serving of Withers and Koehl in the third set to win 25-13. Withers posted two aces during her eight-point run, and the Gold and Blue did not miss a serve in the set. The Rattlers' block also picked up, sending back four.
Set 4
There were five ties and three lead changes through the first part of set four, until Withers scored the 15th point on a cross-court kill, and the Rattlers never trailed again, winning on a Robinson kill, 25-22.
Set 5
Robinson tallied three of the team's first four kills in the final stanza, giving StMU a 5-4 lead. The score was tied at five, six and seven before Withers blasted a line shot from the right side, and her tough serve forced a hitting error for the 9-7 lead, and they went on to win 15-10.
The Rattlers remain on the road, playing at Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Javelinas lost in four sets to St. Edward's on Friday.
