Volleyball Travels to Denton for LSC Preview

This Week in Rattlers Volleyball
LSC Preview • Kitty Magee Arena • Denton, Texas
Thursday, Sept. 18 • at Texas Woman's (6-3) • 6 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 19 • vs. DBU (5-1) • 6 p.m.

 

LSC Preview: All 18 teams in the Lone Star Conference will be competing in six pods of three teams in the last week of non-conference action. The Rattlers will face Texas Woman's on Thursday and DBU on Friday. Both matches are scheduled for 6 p.m. starts in Denton.

Defensive Expectations: The match on Thursday features the top two liberos, statistically, in the Lone Star Conference when it pits #1 Alyssa Rojo (5.17 digs/set) against #2 Alyssa Koehl (5.16). The pair are separated in the statistics by 0.01 digs per set. Next on the LSC list with 5.00 digs per set is Midwestern State's Sadie Christiansen.

History With TWU: The Pioneers are Rattlers are tied at 10-10 in the all-time series that started in 1985. Texas Woman's has won the last three meetings, and is 4-2 at Kitty Magee Arena. TWU has also won three of the four meetings since StMU joined the Lone Star. This is the first time the two teams have been in the same grouping in the LSC Preview. 

History With DBU: The Patriots hold a 27-17 lead in the all-time series that began in 1998. The Rattlers do own a 6-0 lead in matches played on a neutral court, though it's been 15 years since the teams played on a court that didn't belong to one of the two teams. StMU is looking to snap a five-match losing skid to DBU, and the Patriots are 6-1 against the Rattlers since the two teams joined the LSC. 

A Look Back: St. Mary's went 1-3 at the Rattler Invitational, sweeping Texas A&M International before losing to Florida Southern (3-1), then-#4 Central Oklahoma (3-0) and Fairmont State (3-1). Seniors Dallasstar Johnson and Landri Withers were named to the All-Tournament team for their efforts during the four matches. Johnson hit .288 with 1.86 kills per set and 1.36 blocks per set, while Withers led the team with 3.36 kills per set, hit .245, and was second on the team with 2.79 digs per set.

Monster Block: Senior Dallasstar Johnson vaulted four spots on the St. Mary's career chart into seventh place with 279 career blocks. Johnson collected 19 blocks in the four matches (1.36/set) last week and is now 13 blocks away from passing Misti Fischnar (2000-03) for sixth. Johnson also recorded the 500th kill of her career over the weekend and has 513, ranking fourth in StMU history in hitting percentage at .267 (513-158-1329). Johnson ranks second in the Lone Star Conference with 1.20 blocks per set this season, which is 41st in the nation.

Aces Are Wild: Senior Alyssa Koehl served a team-high six aces last week, bringing her career total to 91 and jumping her from 18th to tied for 15th on the StMU career charts. Koehl is tied with StMU HOF inductee Samantha Weber (2006-07), needing six more to pass fellow libero Katy Migl (2002-05) for 14th. Both Dallasstar Johnson (76) and Landri Withers (71) are close to moving into the top 20 in school history, as Andy Salazar (1996-99) currently holds down that spot with 80 aces.

Making The Climb: Senior Landri Withers moved up another two spots into eighth on the St. Mary's career kills chart and now has 929. With 11 more she will climb into seventh, passing Alissa Tolbert (2018-21). Landri needs 71 more kills to become the seventh player in St. Mary's history to hit the elite 1,000 kill mark.

Digging It: Senior libero Alyssa Koehl moved up one place into fourth in StMU history with 1,624 digs, passing Leslie Arnold (1997-00), who recorded 1,578 in her career. Koehl is 54 shy of taking over third on the list, currently held by Valerie Teter (2005-08). Koehl also ranks fourth in NCAA Division II among active players with her 1,624 digs, and 15th regardless of division. Emma Hickey from Valparaiso (DI) leads all players with 2,278 digs and Koehl is the only player from the Lone Star Conference on the list.

Block Party: Middle blocker Dallasstar Johnson also ranks among the best in NCAA Division II, ranking 12th with 0.97 blocks per set over her career. The senior also ranks 68th regardless of division, and her 279 total blocks ranks 17th among active Division II players and 105th among all three divisions. 

Picked Sixth: St. Mary's has been 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.

Late Coaching Shakeup: On August 6, Laura Ulrich announced she had accepted the head coaching position at Illinois-Springfield. Dave Ulrich, her husband and assistant coach, will serve as the Rattlers interim head coach for 2025, while recently graduated Cali Nims will be the assistant coach and the team welcomes Elle Truckenbrod, a 2025 graduate of Wisconsin-Parkside as the graduate assistant. 

Double Digit Kills: Senior Landri Withers has recorded 10 or more kills 47 times in her career, ranking 8th all-time at St. Mary's. She moves past previous teammate Alicia Virthe, who posted 43 in her standout career. Breann Alexander (2000-02) holds the all-time record, getting to double digits 84 times in her career. Withers is also 7th in StMU history with 30 double-doubles.

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
Dallasstar Johnson    Digs    200    4
    Blocks    300    21
    Blocks    6th Place    13
    Aces    20th Place    5
Alyssa Koehl    Aces    100    9
    Aces    14th Place    6
    Digs    3rd Place    54
Madi Milligan    Kills    100    19
Laurene Robinson    Kills    500    64
    Digs    200    2
    Blocks    100    12
Abbey Stiffler    Assists    400    5
Isabella Waggoner    Digs    400    5
Landri Withers    Kills    1,000    71
    Kills    7th Place    11
   Digs    800    2

Hall of Fame: Samantha (Weber) Vaio was elected into the St. Mary's Hall of Fame, and will be inducted on November 7. Vaio is the only All-American in the NCAA era for the Rattlers, earning honorable mention honors in 2006. She was a two-time Heartland All-Conference First-Team selection, ranking in the top 100 in the NCAA both seasons in hitting percentage and kills per set. She also led the Heartland Conference in 2007 in aces per set, averaging 0.47, and hitting percentage at .313.