SAN ANTONIO — St. Mary's University Volleyball knocked off the last remaining undefeated team in the Lone Star Conference on Saturday, defeating UT Tyler in four sets, 25-19, 25-23, 20-25, 25-21.
 
The two teams both hit at an extremely high clip through the first two sets before cooling off some in the third and fourth sets. The Rattlers (7-3) hit .458 (13-2-24) in the opening set and .441 (17-2-34) in the second set, while the Patriots (9-1) hit .318 (11-4-22) in the first set and .343 (17-5-35) in set two.
 
Sophomore Tara Creekmore (Canton, Mich.) was a perfect 4-for-4 in the opening set and ended the match with 12 kills, finishing second on the team behind graduate student Laurene Robinson (Bedford, Texas) with 24 kills. She also had the only double-double of the match with 12 digs and led the match with three service aces.
 
Junior Taylor Alston (San Antonio) also notched double figures in kills with 10 kills, while senior Olivia Rubio (San Antonio) totaled a season-high tying five blocks. Senior Haleigh Wilk (Salado, Texas) posted 47 assists.
 
The two teams saw 28 tie scores and eight lead changes in the match, with 24 ties in the second and third sets alone.
 
Autumn Perry led the Patriots with 18 kills, while Kaitlyn Davis recorded a match-high 16 digs and Makhai Lewis led UTT with four blocks. 
 
The Rattlers have won four straight matches, and for the third time this season served more aces than service errors, getting 10 aces with only nine miscues. 
 
How It Happened

• Wilk served an ace to open the match, but missed her next one for the lone tie of the set. Creekmore posted four kills on four swings in the first set, while Robinson had five kills on seven attacks to give StMU a 25-19 win.
• The second set was tied at 1, 2 and 3 before the Patriots scored two straight for a 5-3 lead. They pushed the advantage to five, 11-6, though Robinson notched three kills in four points to knot things back up at 14-14. The two clubs tied at every point from 14 to 23 before StMU scored the final two on attack errors by the Patriots for the 25-23 victory.
• Robinson and UTT's Perry went toe-to-toe in the third set, combining for 13 kills with seven by Robinson. Again, the score was tied at 1, 2 and 3, as well as 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 15, 17, and 19 before the Patriots scored six of the final seven points to force a fourth set.

• Creekmore and Robinson combined for 10 kills in the fourth set, two more than the entire Patriot lineup. Robinson also had five digs to go along with her six kills, while Alston added four digs despite playing only four rotations. Rubio stepped up, recording three of her five blocks in the deciding set.

 
The Rattlers remain at home, hosting the first weekend of Lone Star Conference play, hosting No. 9 Angelo State on Friday, Sept. 18 and UT Permian Basin on Saturday, Sept. 19.