WINTER PARK, Fla. — The St. Mary's University Volleyball team snapped back after losing a five-set heartbreaker in the morning to tie the school record for aces in a four-set match in the afternoon en route to a split of the first day at the Rollins College Invitational.
 
The Rattlers (1-1) lost in five sets to Southern Connecticut State before taking down the Ursuline (0-2) Arrows in four sets on Friday evening.
 
St. Mary's returns to the court on Saturday for a pair of matches, facing Concord at 11 a.m. (CT) before taking on host Rollins to conclude the tournament at 6 p.m.
 
SCSU 3, St. Mary's 2
After winning the first two sets, the Rattlers let too many unforced errors creep in over the final three sets in getting reverse-swept by Southern Connecticut State in the season opener. The Rattlers won sets one and two, 25-23 and 25-21, before the Owls won the final three, 25-18, 25-15 and 15-10.
 
Graduate student Laurene Robinson (Bedford, Texas) led the match with a career-high tying 18 kills, while junior Taylor Alston (San Antonio) added 13. Robinson also had a career-high 18 digs in the morning for the fifth double-double of her career. Junior Kaylee Cavazos (San Antonio) added 13 digs and freshman Emerson Chang (Pearland, Texas) chipped in 11 in the first match of her career. She also led the team with two service aces.
 
Freshman Madyson Carr (Houston) had five blocks, one solo and four assists, notching one less than the entire Owls team. The Rattlers had 25 unforced hitting errors while hitting only .097 for the match, and the team missed 12 serves, showing new head coach Kristine Pelky what to work on in practice. StMU out-blocked SCSU 9-to-4 in the match, with five different Rattlers recording at least one block assist.
 
St. Mary's 3, Ursuline 1
The Rattlers dropped the first set before storming back to win the final three, doing a lot of damage at the service line to defeat the Arrows 21-25, 25-21, 25-11, 25-16. 
 
St. Mary's served up 18 aces, tying the school's four-set record previously held by the 2009 team that had 18 at Oklahoma Panhandle State on Oct. 24, 2009. 
 
Alston and Wilk each had four aces to lead the team, while sophomore Tara Creekmore (Canton, Mich.) had three, and Cavazos, Sonia Bojarska (Warsaw, Poland), and Robinson each served two. 
Wilk notched the 12th double-double of her career with 38 assists and 11 digs, while Cavazos recorded a career-best 20 digs in the match. Carr also continued to heat up as the match went along, ending the night with seven kills and senior Olivia Rubio (San Antonio) led the team with three blocks.