SAN ANTONIO — The St. Mary's University STUNT team improved to 4-0 in Lone Star Conference play with a sweep on the final day of the Rattler Invitational, defeating Texas A&M-Kingsville, 27-8 and Texas Woman's, 27-24.
The Rattlers (6-6, 4-0) head to Austin next week to compete in the St. Edward's Tournament, where they will face DBU and St. Edward's on Friday and the Patriots and Ashland on Saturday.
St. Mary's and DBU are currently tied atop the LSC standings at 4-0. TWU is third at 4-4, while Texas A&M-Kingsville is 2-4 and St. Edward's is 0-6.
St. Mary's 27, Texas A&M-Kingsville 8
All 15 routines competed during the four quarters between the Lone Star foes were between 1 and 4. The Rattlers called routine 7 in the final round of the fourth quarter, and both teams forfeited all three portions of the team routine.
StMU swept the first quarter and won all four routines during pyramids & tosses, taking the first round with a 2-1 minor deductions score for a 9-1 score at halftime.
The Rattlers outscored the Javelinas 5-3 in the third quarter, jumps & tumbling, winning two of the four routines by minors and winning routine four outright.
During the team routines, the Javelinas earned four points via minors, while the Rattlers added 13 points to their total, resulting in a 27-8 final.
St. Mary's 27, Texas Woman's 24
In a rematch from Saturday, the Rattlers held on for a close 27-24 victory over the Pioneers, with Head Coach
Jordan VanTimmeren using her timeouts and challenges wisely to help prepare several student-athletes who stepped up to fill roles for teammates who were injured.
The Pioneers won the first point of the day, on routine 1 in partner stunts, but the Rattlers responded by winning the final three routines. The judges originally awarded a tie in the third round on routine two, but VanTimmeren immediately called for a challenge, explained to the judges what she saw, and after review, the Rattlers were awarded the point.
St. Mary's forfeited routine 5 in the first round of pyramids & tosses, bouncing back for a tie in the second round and winning routines 2 and 4 by minor deductions to stretch the lead to three, 10-7 at halftime.
Texas Woman's cut into that lead in the third quarter, winning three of the four rounds via minors, bringing the score to 15-14 after jumps & tumbling.
VanTimmeren went bold, calling routine 7 to kick off team routines, and the Rattlers completed the first two sections, partner stunts and pyramids & tosses, but no points were awarded. St. Mary's outscored TWU 5-4 in routine 1, and 4-3 in routine 4, while both teams scored three points on routine 5 for the 27-24 final tally.
RATTLER INVITATIONAL SCORES
Saturday
Texas A&M-Kingsville 22, UC Davis 15
Kentucky 24, St. Edward's 0
St. Mary's 20, St. Edward's 2
Kentucky 26, Texas A&M-Kingsville 2
Texas Woman's 25, UC Davis 7
St. Mary's 24, Texas Woman's 19
Sunday
Kentucky 24, Texas A&M-Kingsville 0
Texas Woman's 20, St. Edward's 0
St. Mary's 27, Texas A&M-Kingsville 8
Kentucky 28, UC Davis 6
St. Mary's 27, Texas Woman's 24
