Volleyball Concludes Four-Match Road Trip in the West

This Week in Rattlers Volleyball
Friday, Nov. 7 • St. Mary's (12-11, 9-4) at Eastern New Mexico (4-20, 1-12) • 7 p.m. CT/6 p.m. MT
Saturday, Nov. 8 • St. Mary's at #15 West Texas A&M (19-5, 11-2) • 2 p.m.

Long Road Trip: The St. Mary's Volleyball team closes out a four-match road trip with the longest leg, playing at Eastern New Mexico on Friday before facing #15 West Texas A&M on Saturday. The Rattlers will have played in three states in four matches after playing a pair of matches in Oklahoma a week ago.

A Look Back: The Rattlers extended their winning streak to a league-best five-straight matches with the wins at Cameron (3-2) and Oklahoma Christian (3-1) last week, moving into sole possession of fourth place in the Lone Star Conference standings, as they hold the tiebreaker over both Texas Woman's and UT Tyler.

History With ENMU: Friday marks the 20th meeting in the all-time series between St. Mary's and Eastern New Mexico with the Rattlers holding a 12-7 lead. StMU has won six in a row, and all five meetings since joining the Lone Star Conference. A season ago, Alyssa Koehl helped the Rattlers win in five sets with a career-high 44 digs.

History With West Texas A&M: St. Mary's is looking to snap a 17-match losing streak against the Lady Buffs on Saturday. WT holds a commanding 26-2 lead in the series, and they have been nationally-ranked in each of the seven meetings since StMU became a member of the Lone Star.

Under Consideration: In the first release of the NCAA regional rankings, St. Mary's is one of 10 schools in the South Central Region under consideration for a bid to the NCAA Tournament. The initial rankings, released on Wednesday appear in alphabetical order. 

Rarefied Air: Senior outside hitter Landri Withers became only the third player in St. Mary's history with both 1,000 career kills and digs on Saturday. 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, and Withers currently has 1,146 kills and 1,011 digs. Withers posted 20 or more digs in both matches last weekend, jumping five places into 16th on the career chart. She is the 17th player to post over 1,000 digs in a career and she currently ranks 5th in career kills.

Aces High: Three Rattlers rank in the top six in the Lone Star Conference in total aces this season. Junior setter Haleigh Wilk leads the league with 39 aces, while senior libero Alyssa Koehl is third with 36 and Landri Withers is sixth with 33. The Rattlers lead the LSC with 1.88 aces per set and with 175 total service aces.

For the 'W': Landri Withers (12) and Haleigh Wilk (9) lead the team in double-doubles this season. Withers has five double-doubles in her last six matches, and in the other, she missed it by one kill. The three straight ties her longest of the season. Wilk has posted four double-doubles in her last five matches and is coming off back-to-back career-highs in assists with 33 at Cameron and 39 at Oklahoma Christian.

Olly, Alston, Taylor Free: Sophomore Taylor Alston tied her career high with 16 kills in the sweep over UT Tyler on Tuesday night. It is the most kills in a three-set match by a Rattler since Landri Withers posted 16 in the win over Cameron on Oct. 5, 2025, and it ties for the fifth-most in a three-set match in the school's modern-era scoring format (2008-present).

Another Milestone Upcoming: Senior Alyssa Koehl stands at 1,952 career digs, needing only 48 more to become the second player in St. Mary's history with 2,000 digs. Koehl currently ranks fifth among Division II active players in total digs and ninth in digs per set (4.84).

Made to be Broken: On Oct. 25 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: Twelve times this season, junior setter Haleigh Wilk has served multiple aces in a match, and she currently ranks fifth on the St. Mary's modern scoring format chart with 39 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 fourth on the St. Mary's modern scoring format single season list with 85 block assists, passing Stephanie Proske, who recorded 82 in 2010. Next on the list is Johnson's mark of 87 block assists from her freshman campaign.

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 six straight matches and 13 times this season. Cate is second on the team, averaging 0.88 blocks per set, which ranks eighth in the Lone Star statistics. 

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 175 aces with at least four matches to play. Wilk leads the team with 39 aces (0.44/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 29 aces and ranks second in aces/set.

Block Party: Senior Dallasstar Johnson ranks fourth in the Lone Star Conference with 1.04 blocks per set. Twelve times this season she's recorded five or more blocks in a match, and she ranks fifth in St. Mary's history with 338 total blocks. Johnson is also tied for ninth on the StMU career charts with 46 solo blocks and second with 292 block assists. 

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    Blocks    100    9
Dallasstar Johnson    Blocks    3rd Place    3
    Aces    15th Place    3
Alyssa Koehl    Aces    8th Place    1
    Assists    400    1
    Digs    2000    48
Laurene Robinson    Digs    300    12
Abbey Stiffler    Digs    200    18
Kelly Swyers    Kills    200    23
Landri Withers    Aces    15th Place    3