SAN ANTONIO — For the second-straight match, St. Mary's University Volleyball senior
Landri Withers broke the school record in kills in a four-set match, bettering her total from Saturday by one kill in a four-set victory over UT Dallas on Tuesday night, 25-16, 29-27, 22-25, 25-20.
Withers, an outside hitter from Stephenville, Texas, recorded the 1,000th kill of her career on the Rattlers' (5-8, 2-1) 23rd point of the first set and went on to add another 19 kills for a career-high 24 on the night. She also posted the 34th double-double of her career with 10 kills.
Withers becomes the first Rattler since Samantha Weber in 2007 to record 20 or more kills in back-to-back matches, as she had 23 on Saturday in the four-set win at UT Permian Basin. Weber had 28 kills against DBU and 27 against UT Permian Basin in the Heartland Conference Tournament on November 2-3. Withers hit .524 on the night (24-2-42), leading all players in that category, too.
Senior outside hitter
Laurene Robinson (Bedford, Texas) and sophomore
Kelly Swyers (Austin, Texas) were also in double figures in kills with 13 and 10, respectively, while Robinson tied for match-high honors in blocks with five alongside senior
Dallasstar Johnson (San Antonio). It is the sixth time this season Johnson has collected five or more blocks in a match.
Junior setter
Haleigh Wilk (Salado, Texas) led the match with four aces and notched the fourth double-double of the season with a career-best 31 assists and 10 digs. Freshman
Liz Salinas (Helotes, Texas) added 21 assists, while senior libero
Alyssa Koehl (New Braunfels, Texas) posted a match-high 25 kills. Senior
Isabella Waggoner (Texas City, Texas) also hit double digits in digs for the fifth time this year, with 11.
The Rattlers hit a season-high .349 for the match, hitting over .250 in the three sets they won, including an outstanding .588 in the fourth and final set.
The first set was tied at every point from one to six before the Rattlers went on a seven-point run, thanks in part to three aces by Wilk to take a 13-6 lead. Sophomore
Kaylee Cavazos (San Antonio) added another ace, and a block by Johnson and Swyers pushed the lead to nine, 20-11. Withers recorded her fifth kill of the evening, and the 1,000th of her career for the 23-13 score, and the Rattlers went on to win 25-16.
There were eight tie scores and five lead changes in the second set, as the two teams played extra, with StMU winning 29-27. After having five aces in the opening set, the Rattlers didn't have any in the second stanza, but they turned up the heat at the net, totaling six blocks, with four coming from Robinson.
The Comets led the majority of the third set, with freshman Jane Burkhardt swinging for seven kills and the 25-22 victory.
The Rattlers refocused for the fourth set, with Withers posting seven kills on nine swings and no errors. In fact, StMU only had one hitting error the entire set, and that was a set by Wilk that went over the net, and she was called for a back-row attack. The Comets were also low error on the attack, with only one unforced error in the set, and one block by the Rattlers.
St. Mary's remains at home, hosting Lubbock Christian on Friday at 6 p.m. and Midwestern State on Saturday at 2 p.m.
