DENTON, Texas — The St. Mary's University Volleyball team started the LSC Preview Challenge with a bang, winning in four sets at Texas Woman's on Thursday night, 25-21, 25-13, 22-25, 25-20.
In the battle of the top two liberos in the conference, St. Mary's senior
Alyssa Koehl (New Braunfels, Texas) got the edge, out-digging Alyssa Rojo 24-to-16, though the teams tied with 80 digs each. Rojo entered the night with a slight edge in the Lone Star statistics in digs per set, 5.17 to 5.16 for Koehl.
Senior outside hitter
Landri Withers (Stephenville, Texas) had her best match of the season, recording season-highs in both kills and digs, with 19 each. She also hit .447 (19-2-38) and finished second on the team with three blocks. Fellow senior right-side hitter
Laurene Robinson (Bedford, Texas) was right behind Withers, notching 15 kills on a .343 percentage (15-3-35).
Senior defensive specialist
Isabella Waggoner (Texas City, Texas) posted a season-high 11 digs, and her 15 serves were all disruptive, keeping the Pioneers (6-4) off balance. She had one of the team's season-high 11 aces, while Koehl led the match with three, and
Haleigh Wilk (Salado, Texas),
Dallasstar Johnson (San Antonio) and
Kaylee Cavazos (San Antonio) each added two.
Johnson tied for match-high honors with five blocks, knotting Jonaida Donowa from TWU, as each team had eight blocks in the match. Johnson has totaled five or more blocks in five of the nine matches this season and ranks second in the LSC with her average of 1.21 blocks per set.
There were 14 ties and 10 lead changes in the first set alone, as neither team could gain control until Johnson served back-to-back aces after a TWU timeout for the 23-19 advantage. Withers collected consecutive kills to close the set for the 25-21 win – and she had nine in the first stanza alone. The Rattlers also served up five aces.
The second set was all Rattlers as they led wire-to-wire. Senior middle blocker
Landry Cate (Hot Springs, Ark.) and Johnson had five in the first 10 points to set the tone for the rest of the set, while Robinson had four straight late to close it out, 25-13.
The Pioneers used a big run in the third set after trailing 16-11 to knot the score at 18-18 and go on to win 25-22. The two left-side hitters for TWU, Tori Woods and Sydney Garrison, combined for eight kills in the final 14 points as the Pioneers forced a fourth set.
Robinson and Withers combined for nine kills and an ace serve, while Johnson collected two blocks in the fourth and final set as the Rattlers led throughout in the 25-20 win.
The Rattlers remain in Denton and will face DBU on Friday at 6 p.m. The Patriots are 5-1 on the season and have won three straight matches.
News & Notes:
- Laurene Robinson recorded the 200th dig of her career and now has 204.
- Isabella Waggoner posted the 400th dig of her career and now has 406 after grabbing a season-best 11 digs in the match.
- Landri Withers moved into seventh place on the StMU career kills chart and now has 948, passing Alissa Tolbert's (2018-21) 939.
- Withers also collected the 800th dig of her career and has 817. It was the 31st double-double of her career. She narrowly missed becoming only the sixth player in StMU history with 20 kills and 20 digs in the same match, totaling 19 in each column.
- The Rattlers snapped a three-match losing streak for the season, and a three-match losing streak to Texas Woman's with the four-set win. StMU takes the lead back in the all-time series 11-10.
