HONOLULU – The St. Mary's University Volleyball team ended the Hawai'i Challenge on a high note, sweeping fellow Marianist university and ninth-ranked Chaminade, 25-19, 25-19, 25-17.
The Rattlers (1-3) used a balanced attack as five hitters recorded between four and eight kills, led by senior
Laurene Robinson's (Bedford, Texas) eight. Robinson did not have a hitting error on 22 swings for a .364 hitting percentage.
Senior libero
Alyssa Koehl (New Braunfels, Texas) led the match with 18 digs, and she and junior setter
Haleigh Wilk (Salado, Texas) each had three service aces to pace the match. Junior
Madi Milligan (San Antonio) continued to play well at the net, leading the match with four blocks.
The Rattlers totaled six blocks on the evening, but the Silverswords totaled another 23 unforced hitting errors, hitting only .057 for the match. Chaminade (2-5) was unable to record a block on StMU, and the Rattlers had fewer errors, committing only nine for a .186 hitting percentage.
After the conclusion of the tournament, Robinson was named to the All-Tournament team, while Koehl was named the libero of the Tournament.
Set 1
The Silverswords took 15 more swings than the Rattlers in the opening set but had 12 hitting errors to help StMU win the opener 25-19. Robinson had half of the team's kills with four, while Milligan and Withers paired for two blocks and Wilk added two aces. The Rattlers trailed by four, 11-7 in the set, but pushed across five straight to take a 12-11 lead. Tied at 18-18, the Gold and Blue scored six in a row, including the two aces by Wilk for the 24-18 advantage.
Set 2
The Rattlers led by as many as eight in the set (17-9), but Chaminade made a late run to cut the deficit to four, 23-19, before Johnson recorded a kill and ace serve to finish things off. Her ace was one of three in the set. Withers led the team with three kills to put the Rattlers up 2-0.
Set 3
Chaminade scored the first point, but the Rattlers scored three of the next four and never looked back, going on to win 25-17. Milligan paced the team with four kills and a solo block in the deciding set.
The Rattlers come home to host the Rattler Invitational beginning on Friday, Sept. 13. Central Oklahoma and Fairmont State kick off the five-team tournament at 9:30 a.m., while the Rattlers square off against Texas A&M International at Noon.
