HONOLULU — It can't be said that the St. Mary's University Volleyball team didn't get it's money's worth of volleyball on opening weekend as they played the third-straight five-set match on Saturday afternoon at Chaminade. The Rattlers lost in five sets to Hawai'i-Hilo 26-24, 18-25, 25-15, 17-25, 13-15.
Junior setter
Haleigh Wilk (Salado, Texas) posted the first double-double of her career with career-highs in both assists (24) and digs (14). Wilk also led the match with three service aces, giving her 10 on the year.
Senior
Laurene Robinson (Bedford, Texas) collected 16 kills with only one error in 39 swings for a match-high .385 hitting percentage, and she was the only Rattler in double figures in kills.
Senior libero
Alyssa Koehl (New Braunfels, Texas) led the match with 24 digs, and added five assists, while seniors
Landri Withers (Stephenville, Texas) and
Isabella Waggoner (Texas City, Texas) were both in double digits in the digs column with 14 and 10, respectively.
Senior
Landry Cate (Hot Springs, Ark.), making her first appearance of the 2025 season, posted four blocks in the final three sets to tie for match-high honors with
Dallasstar Johnson (San Antonio) and the Vulans' Chase Koepke.
Set 1
Both teams struggled to find an offensive rhythm in the opening set, hitting negative in the 26-24 Rattlers win. Robinson had half of the team's kills with four, while Johnson collected four blocks, and both Wilk and Withers had six digs each.
Set 2
The two teams were able to get their hitting percentages into the positive during the second set. Hilo scored four of the final five points of the set to win 25-18. For the first time this season, the Rattlers did not have a block in the set, though Withers led the team with four kills.
Set 3
The Rattlers once again held the Vulcans to a negative hitting percentage in the third set, as they had 11 hitting errors and only seven kills. Cate and
Kelly Swyers (Austin, Texas) added a nice spark in entering for the first time on the day. Trailing 11-10, the Rattlers scored nine of 11 points to build a 19-13 lead, and they went on to win 25-15. Swyers ended the match with seven kills – good for third on the team.
Set 4
The Vulcans bounced back, winning the fourth set 25-17. Swyers led the team with four kills, while Robinson chipped in three. UHH took its first lead at 4-3 and never trailed again, though the Rattlers fought back to tie the score at 17-17 before the Vulcans scored the final eight points.
Set 5
The score was tied at every point from one through five, and then again from eight to 10. After UHH scored three straight to take a 12-10 lead, Robinson responded with a kill to the deep corner of the court, and she teamed with Cate for a block to tie the score at 12-12. There was one more tie at 13-13 after Cate and Swyers posted a block, but UHH scored the final two for the 15-13 victory.
St. Mary's closes out the Hawai'i Challenge with host Chaminade. The match is scheduled to begin at 11 p.m. (CT) on Saturday night.
