This Week in Rattlers Volleyball
Friday, Oct. 10 • St. Mary's (6-9, 3-2) at Texas A&M International (3-11, 1-4) • 6 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 11 • St. Mary's at Texas A&M-Kingsville (12-3, 4-1) • 2 p.m.
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Hitting the Road: The St. Mary's Volleyball team heads south for matches with Texas A&M International on Friday and Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday afternoon. The records of the two teams in league play are juxtaposed, with the Dustdevils 1-4 and the Javelinas 4-1.
History With TAMIU: This will be the second meeting this season between the Rattlers and Dustdevils as Texas A&M International played in the Rattler Invitational, with StMU winning in straight sets. Taylor Alston, Laurene Robinson and Landri Withers each had nine kills to lead the team, while Alyssa Koehl had a match-high 17 digs and Dallasstar Johnson recorded six blocks. Mia Molina led TAMIU with eight kills, while Sierra Sanchez had 14 digs and Caitlyn Cornell had four blocks. Friday will be the 40th match in the all-time series, with the Rattlers leading 23-16. The two teams first met in 2006 and the Rattlers are looking to snap a six-match losing streak in Laredo, last winning there in 2018.
History With TAMUK: St. Mary's holds a slight 34-31 lead in the all-time series with Texas A&M-Kingsville that started back in 1978, though the Rattlers are 7-20 all-time in Kingsville. St. Mary's has won the last two meetings between the clubs, but they've dropped six straight at the Steinke PEC, dating back to 2019 and are 3-9 since joining the Lone Star Conference.
Finding Their Groove: St. Mary's has won three of its last four matches, falling only to the No. 1 team in the Lone Star Conference standings, Lubbock Christian, in four sets. During the stretch the team is averaging 13.59 kills/set, up over 2.0/set for the entire season, hitting .231, an increase of 30 points, and averaging 2.32 blocks/set. The Rattlers are also averaging 1.82 aces and 17.45 digs/set.
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 1.88 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 111 aces with at least 12 matches to play. Wilk leads the team with 27 aces (0.49/set), which would break the modern scoring format record of 0.407/set by Victorria Martinez from 2012. It is also within .001 of the all-time record of 0.492 held by Katie Griffin from 1998.
Double Up On Your Koehl: Senior libero Alyssa Koehl continues to rewrite the St. Mary's record books. On Saturday against Midwestern State, Koehl recorded her 90th match with 10 or more digs, moving into second place, trailing only the 107 times by all-time digs leader Victorria Martinez (2011-14). Koehl ranks third all-time in total digs with 1780, needing only 114 more to pass the great Katy Migl (2002-05) for second on that list.
Twenty Or Bust: Senior outside hitter Landri Withers waited only three days to break the record she established on Sept. 27, blasting a career-high 24 kills in the four-set win over UT Dallas on Sept. 30 to break the StMU four-set modern-era scoring record. Withers has now had 20 or more kills in three of the last four matches and is up to fifth in the LSC with 3.36 kills/set.
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 23rd among active Division 2 players with her 1,047 kills and is one of only two in the Lone Star (Emma Becker, WT, 1,137), though Lily Bickley from Lubbock Christian (986) and Tori Woods from Texas Woman's (973) are rapidly approaching the milestone.
Best In Lone Star: Senior libero Alyssa Koehl continues to lead the Lone Star Conference in digs per set, averaging 5.44, 0.55 better than Giselle Ojeda from St. Edward's in second. Koehl has had eight matches this season with 20 or more digs, including a season-high 34 in the team's four-set loss to Fairmont. Her 31 digs at UT Permian Basin on Sept. 27 are also the most in a conference match this season by any player in the league.
Block Party: Senior Dallasstar Johnson ranks fifth in the Lone Star Conference and 65th nationally with 1.07 blocks per set. Seven times this season she's recorded five or more blocks in a match, and she ranks sixth in St. Mary's history with 304 total blocks, needing 20 more to move into fifth past Kirsten Chapman (2008-11) with 323. Johnson also ranks 13th on the StMU career charts with 43 solo blocks and tied for fourth with 261 block assists. Her 0.97 blocks per set for her career is seventh in school history and 24th among active Division II players and 95th among all three divisions in the NCAA.
Picked Sixth: St. Mary's was chosen to finish sixth in the extremely competitive Lone Star Conference in 2025. The Rattlers received 633 points to finish in the top 1/3 of the poll. Fresh off an appearance in the Final Four, Angelo State is predicted to win the league title. They collected 30 of the 54 first-place votes and 933 points. Defending regular season champions, West Texas A&M, was voted second with 919 points and 18 first-place nods. UT Tyler (3 first-place votes, 859 points), DBU (2, 803) and Texas Woman's (738) round out the top five.
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
Taylor Alston   Kills   200   30
Landry Cate   Kills   100   25
Kaylee Cavazos   Assists   100   6
   Digs   100   11
Dallasstar Johnson   Blocks   5th Place   20
   Aces   17th Place   5
Alyssa Koehl   Aces   12th Place   3
      11th Place   4
   Digs   1800   20
Madi Milligan   Kills   100   19
Abbey Stiffler   Digs   200   19
Kelly Swyers   Kills   200   29
Landri Withers   Kills   1,100   53
   Aces   20th Place   3
   Digs   800   18
