This Week in Rattlers Volleyball
Wednesday, Sept. 30 • St. Mary's (9-5, 2-2) at UT Dallas (6-6, 2-1) • 6 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 2 • Texas A&M International (7-9, 1-4) at St. Mary's • 6 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 3 • Texas A&M-Kingsville (12-4, 5-0) at St. Mary's • 2 p.m.
Busy Week Ahead: The St. Mary's Volleyball team plays three matches this week, playing Wednesday at UT Dallas for the first time ever before returning home to host Texas A&M International on Friday and Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday in a rematch from Sept. 5 in the Javelina Classic.
History with UT Dallas: St. Mary's won the first-ever meeting between the Rattlers and Comets last year in four sets at Bill Greehey Arena. Laurene Robinson had 13 kills, hit .393 and had five blocks in the win, while Haleigh Wilk added a double-double of 31 assists and 10 digs.
History with Texas A&M International: The Rattlers hold a 24-16 lead in the series with Texas A&M International that dates back to 2006. The two teams are knotted at 7-7 since joining the Lone Star Conference, and the Rattlers have won the last four matches.
History with Texas A&M-Kingsville: The Rattlers pulled out a thrilling five-set win in Kingsville at the Javelina Classic on Sept. 5 to take a 35-32 lead in the all-time series that started way back in 1978. The Rattlers have won two straight in Bill Greehey Arena, though the Javelinas are a perfect 5-0 in Lone Star Conference play this season. A month ago a trio recorded double-doubles as Laurene Robinson led the team with 21 kills and 19 digs, Haleigh Wilk had 50 assists and 12 digs and Taylor Alston chipped in 18 kills and 15 digs.
A Look Back: St. Mary's split the first road week in LSC play, dropping a four-setter at Lubbock Christian before bouncing back to win in four sets at Midwestern State. The Rattlers hit .274 for the week with 14.00 kills, 2.63 blocks and 13.13 digs per set. Freshman Madyson Carr spurred the defense, averaging 1.75 blocks per set and notching a career-high eight in the win over the Mustangs.
Milestones Approaching: Junior Taylor Alston averaged 3.5 kills per set last week and is now 24 kills away from posting her 500th career kill... Laurene Robinson is 73 kills away from becoming the eighth player in St. Mary's history with 1,000 career kills. Robinson has 927 kills and is averaging a team-best 4.41 kills per set this season... Robinson also needs 44 digs for 500 in her career.
Block Party: Madyson Carr continues to dominate at the net for the Rattlers. The freshman from Houston collected six blocks (3 solo, 3 assists) at Lubbock Christian then turned around an recorded a career-high eight blocks (1 solo, 7 assists) in the win at Midwestern State. Her eight blocks ties for the fourth-most in StMU history in a four-set match and betters her career-high of seven from Sept. 5 at Texas A&M-Kingsville. Carr is averaging 0.95 blocks per set, which ranks 7th in the Lone Star.
Double Time: Laurene Robinson became the first-ever Rattler to earn back-to-back Lone Star Conference Player of the Week honors as she was named Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 15 and Sept. 22. Robinson hit .414 with 41 kills for the week against Angelo State and UT Permian Basin. She is the second player in school history to be named LSC Player of the Week twice, joining Cali Nims, who was Setter of the Week twice in 2024.
Running Rattlers: St. Mary's has recorded 31 runs of five-plus unanswered points this season. The longest run of the season was seven-straight points in the opening set against MSU Moorhead on Sept. 3 with Kaylee Cavazos at the service line. (See chart at the left for full listing of point runs)
Double Your Fun: Both Laurene Robinson and Haleigh Wilk now rank in the top-25 in school history in Division II double-doubles. Robinson is 25th with 10 career double-doubles, while Wilk is tied for 17th with 16. Breann Alexander (2000-02) and Kristelle Rodriguez (2000-02) both had 60 matches with double figures in two different categories while playing in NCAA Division II for the record.
Swinging Smart: St. Mary's currently ranks fourth in the Lone Star Conference and 38th in Division II in hitting percentage at .245. That would break the St. Mary's single-season DII record of .235 (2124-764-5799) by the 2000 team. The 2024 team set the 25-point rally era (2008) record for hitting percentage at .230 (1440-507-4054). Laurene Robinson ranks second in the league and 54th nationally with her .364 hitting percentage (269-50-602). Her numbers are on pace to shatter the StMU rally-scoring era record of .323 (274-77-610) by Stephanie Proske from 2011.Â
Elite Company: Grace Dilena (Mercy), Laurene Robinson and Madeline Guetzkow (Minn.-Duluth) are the only three players in NCAA Division II who rank in the top 55 in both kills per set and hitting percentage. Dilena ranks 17th in hitting percentage (.402) and 14th in kills per set (4.11), while Robinson is 4th in kills per set (4.41) and 54th in hitting percentage (.364) and Guetzkow is 28th in hitting percentage (.389) and 38th in kills (3.67).
Putting Up the Points: In the second set against No. 6 Angelo State on Sept. 18, the Rattlers tied the school record for most points in a set in the 25-point rally era, winning 33-31. They tie the record from Oct. 6, 2018 where the Rattlers also won 33-31 (at UAFS). St. Mary's is 2-3 in sets this season that go extra points.
League Leaders: Laurene Robinson leads the Lone Star Conference in kills per set with 4.41 (4th), points per set with 4.93 (6th) and total kills with 269 (2nd), and is second in hitting percentage at .364 (54th) and her national rank in all is in parentheses. Haleigh Wilk ranks second in assists with 9.10 (49th) and Kaylee Cavazos is second with 23 aces (91st).
Setting the Table: Senior setter Haleigh Wilk topped the 1,000 set milestone at Texas A&M-Kingsville on Sept. 5 and now has 1,289 assists (5.63/set), moving her into the top 10 on the St. Mary's career charts. Wilk took over ninth place over the weekend, and is 256 assists shy of passing Kori McCarver (1544, 2007-10) for eighth.
Finding Her Place: Since moving into the starting rotation, sophomore Tara Creekmore has recorded double figures in kills eight times in 10 matches, including five straight. She notched a career-high 15 kills against MSU Moorhead on Sept. 3
One-For-One: Senior Kelly Swyers has attempted exactly one serve in her collegiate career, and it went for an ace on match point in the sweep over Montana State Billings. Swyers entered in the third set with the Rattlers ahead 22-8, recorded a kill to give the Rattlers match point (24-13) and then served the ace for the win.
Being Efficient: The Rattlers hit .417 in the sweep against Concord, making only three unforced errors in the entire match. The .417 hitting percentage is the fifth-best in a single match in school history, and it's only the fourth time in the 25-point rally scoring era (2008-present) that the team has hit over .400 for a match.
Ace in the Hole: In the four-set win over Ursuline, the six St. Mary's servers combined for 18 aces, tying the school's four-set record for service aces from Oct. 24, 2009 at Oklahoma Panhandle State. All six servers had at least two aces in the match, while junior Taylor Alston and senior Haleigh Wilk each had four to lead the team. Â
Climbing the Ladder: Laurene Robinson ranks 45th in Division II and 192nd among all NCAA Volleyball players in career kills with 927, while she ranks 105th in DII with 0.52 blocks per set and 117th with 178 total blocks.
Picked Fifth: The Rattlers were picked to finish fifth in the 18-team Lone Star Conference. StMU received 698 points and one first-place vote, while Angelo State is the overwhelming choice to repeat as champions, garnering 951 points and 41 of the 54 first-place votes. West Texas A&M (7 first-place votes, 883 points), Lubbock Christian (3, 837) and UT Tyler (778) round out the top five. The Patriots and Rattlers have met each of the last two years in the quarterfinals of the LSC Tournament.
