SAN ANTONIO — St. Mary's University Volleyball closed the regular season by winning eight of its final nine matches, including a sweep over Sul Ross State on Senior Day, 25-10, 25-18, 25-15, to earn the fourth-seed at the upcoming Lone Star Conference Tournament.
All seven seniors who were honored before the start of the match were in the starting lineup and led the Rattlers (15-12, 12-5) to the lopsided victory on Saturday afternoon.
Seniors
Laurene Robinson (Bedford, Texas) and
Landri Withers (Stephenville, Texas) each recorded 12 kills, while Withers posted her third-straight double-double and 15th of the season with 14 digs. She also served the 100th ace of her career in the second set.
Alyssa Koehl (New Braunfels, Texas) led the match with 22 digs, and she tied for game-high honors with Withers with three aces.
Senior middle blocker
Dallasstar Johnson (San Antonio) notched five kills in eight swings with no errors for a .625 hitting percentage and led the match with four blocks.
Landry Cate (Hot Springs, Ark.) chipped in three kills and a block, while
Abbey Stiffler (York, Pa.) led the match with 18 assists and added seven digs and
Isabella Waggoner (Texas City, Texas) had three digs and two aces – including one on match point for the win.
The Rattlers trailed only briefly in the third set but took the lead at 5-4 on a block by Johnson and junior setter
Haleigh Wilk (Salado, Texas) and never looked back. Leading 6-5, Waggoner served five straight points to push the lead to 11-5, and the Rattlers went on to win 25-15. In the first two sets, StMU led wire-to-wire.
Angelo State and Lubbock Christian share the regular season title, but the Rambelles earn the right to host the LSC Tournament due to tiebreaking procedures. West Texas A&M will be the third seed, and the Rattlers will be their highest-ever seed at fourth, facing fifth-seeded UT Tyler for the second straight year in the quarterfinals. Texas Woman's gets the sixth-seed, Oklahoma Christian seven and Texas A&M-Kingsville rounds out the field as the eight-seed. The tournament begins on Thursday, Nov. 20.
