Volleyball Hosts UT Tyler for Annual Boo Bash

This Week in Rattlers Volleyball
Tuesday, Oct. 28 • UT Tyler (11-9, 7-3) at St. Mary's (9-11, 6-4) • 6 p.m. (BOO BASH)
 

Boo Bash: The St. Mary's Volleyball team hosts UT Tyler on Tuesday in the last of a four-match home swing. The Rattlers will host the 34th annual Boo Bash on campus, welcoming friends of St. Mary's to trick-or-treat on campus and enjoy some volleyball. For more on Boo Bash, visit and register here. Fans are encouraged to dress in costume for the match!

A Look Back: The Rattlers won another thrilling five-set match, taking down St. Edward's in the annual Battle of the Saints. There were a combined 31 services aces, as the Rattlers served 18, and the Hilltoppers had 13, and the two teams totaled only 10 errors. StMU also out-blocked SEU 11-to-2 on the day. Laurene Robinson led the Rattlers with 12 kills, while Alyssa Koehl had 25 digs and five aces, Landry Cate and Dallasstar Johnson each had five blocks and Haleigh Wilk posted 21 assists.

History With UTT: UT Tyler holds a 4-1 lead in the all-time series that started in 2021. The Patriots have won the last two meetings, including the quarterfinals of the 2024 Lone Star Championship, and each of the last three matches have gone five sets. This is the third-straight season the match has taken place in San Antonio, though in 2023 the two teams played at Trinity in the Bell Center.

Made to be Broken: On Saturday against St. Edward's, the Rattlers collected 18 aces, breaking the St. Mary's five-set record, bettering the previous record of 14 from both the 2006 (at Texas A&M Kingsville, Sept. 6) and 2007 (DBU, Nov. 2) teams, and ties for second all-time regardless of the number of sets played. On Sept. 24, 2004, the Rattlers served 22 aces in a win against Oklahoma Panhandle State, while they had 18 in a four-set win at Oklahoma Panhandle State on Oct. 24, 2009.

Dealing Out All the Aces: Junior setter Haleigh Wilk has served at least one ace in 18 of the 20 matches this season and already ranks fifth on the St. Mary's modern scoring format chart with 37 aces. Monica Ramon holds the modern record (2008-present) with 46 aces from 2017, while the overall record for aces in a season is 64 by Katie Griffin in 1997.

Now Appearing: Senior Dallasstar Johnson moved into fifth on the St. Mary's modern scoring format single season list with 78 block assists, passing Megan Isbell, who recorded 77 in 2015. One more assist for Johnson will tie her for 20th on the all-time single-season chart with Leslie Stults (1996).

Climbing the Ladder: Senior Landri Withers passed Jennifer Johnson (1996-98) for sixth on the St. Mary's career kills chart on Saturday. Withers now has 1,111 kills, while Johnson notched 1,109 in her standout career. Withers is also now 21st all-time with 957 digs, needing four more to move into the top 20.

Getting Their Money's Worth: St. Mary's currently ranks fourth in the Lone Star Conference in sets played this season, playing in 81. Only Lubbock Christian (86), Cameron (85) and Texas A&M-Kingsville (82) have played more, and both LCU and CU have played 23 matches, while the Javelinas are at 21, and the Rattlers have played 20. StMU has gone the distance seven times with a 4-3 record and they've won the last four. Last season's team played in eight five-set matches, posting a 3-5 record.

Taking the Lead: Not surprisingly after serving 18 matches on Saturday, the Rattlers now lead the Lone Star Conference in total aces (158) and aces per set (1.95). StMU ranks 64th in the nation in aces per set, as American International leads all of Division II with 2.80.

Cate-y Bar the Door: Senior middle blocker Landry Cate, who missed all of last season due to injury, has quietly posted multiple blocks in three straight matches and 10 times this season. Cate is second on the team, averaging 0.89 blocks per set, which ranks eighth in the Lone Star statistics. 

Keeping Watch: Senior Landri Withers surpassed the 900 dig milestone at Texas A&M-Kingsville and now looks to become only the third player in St. Mary's history with both 1,000 career kills and digs. Breann Alexander (1999-02) recorded 1,582 kills and 1,343 digs in her standout career, while Jennifer Johnson totaled 1,109 kills and 1,001 digs. Withers currently has 1,111 kills and 957 digs to her name with seven matches remaining in the regular season.

Aces Are Wild: Both the St. Mary's team and junior setter Haleigh Wilk are on pace to break the St. Mary's modern scoring format single-season aces per set record. The Rattlers are averaging 1.95 service aces per set, well above the record of 1.70 from last season's team, which recorded 182 aces in 107 sets.  This year's team already has 158 aces with at least seven matches to play. Wilk leads the team with 37 aces (0.48/set), which would break the modern scoring format record of 0.407/set by Victorria Martinez from 2012.  She also leads the league with her 37 aces and ranks second in aces/set.

Best In Lone Star: Senior libero Alyssa Koehl continues to lead the Lone Star Conference in digs per set, averaging 5.30, which ranks 16th nationally. Koehl has had 11 matches this season with 20 or more digs, including a season-high 34 against Fairmont. Koehl also ranks fifth among active Division II players with her 1,888 digs, a number that also ranks 14th among every player in the NCAA, regardless of division. Her 4.83 digs per set over her career also ranks ninth among active Division II players.

Elite Company: In addition to recording a career-high 24 kills in the win over UT Dallas, Landri Withers collected the 1,000th kill of her career on point #23 of the first set. Withers is only the seventh player in St. Mary's history with 1,000 career kills, and is the first to accomplish the feat since Channing Hankins in 2018. Withers ranks 25th among active Division II players with her 1,111 kills.

Block Party: Senior Dallasstar Johnson ranks third in the Lone Star Conference and 40th nationally with 1.11 blocks per set. Eleven times this season she's recorded five or more blocks in a match, and she ranks fifth in St. Mary's history with 331 total blocks. Johnson is also tied for ninth on the StMU career charts with 46 solo blocks and third with 285 block assists. Her 0.99 blocks per set for her career ranks 24th among active Division II players.

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
Landry Cate    Kills    100    9
Kaylee Cavazos    Assists    100    1
Dallasstar Johnson    Kills    600    5
    Blocks    3rd Place    10
    Aces    15th Place    5
Alyssa Koehl    Aces    9th Place    3
    Assists    400    8
    Digs    2nd Place    6
Laurene Robinson    Kills    600    38
Abbey Stiffler    Digs    200    18
Kelly Swyers    Kills    200    23
Isabella Waggoner    Digs    500    7
Landri Withers    Aces    15th Place    5
    Digs    1000    43