AUSTIN, Texas – The St. Edward's volleyball team split on the opening day of the 2013 Hilltopper-Rattler Classic Friday. The Hilltoppers downed Merrimack College in three sets, 25-11, 25-22, 25-18 in its first match, but fell to Texas Woman's in four sets, 23-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-17, in the nightcap.
 
St. Edward's raced out of the gate in their first match of the day in dominant fashion, taking a 13-5 lead over Merrimack College. ANNA AYCOCK produced two kills and Hannah Rappaport added two aces in the opening stanza. The Hilltoppers coasted from there as Aycock led the way with six kills during the opening set. The defense was the key in set one, with the Hilltoppers holding Merrimack College to a -.080 hitting percentage.
 
Set two proved to be a close one as the Warriors held tight to St. Edward's, 18-15. The Hilltoppers kept the five-point margin, 23-18, but Merrimack closed the gap with three-straight points to make it 23-21. After a Hilltopper timeout, the home team took the victory with a hitting error by the Warriors and an AMY JONES kill.
 
In set three, St. Edward's came out firing on the offensive end. Five kills by KELLY JIMENEZ and four more by MARY KOEHLER led the Hilltoppers to a match-high .353 hitting percentage as they took the set and match.
 
Aycock led the Hilltoppers with 10 kills and a .444 hitting percentage. Jimenez ended with nine kills and Koehler chipped in with seven. HANNAH RAUCH also had seven kills and hit at a .636 clip. LOREN KELLY dished out 24 assists, while JACLYN BILLIE registered 14 assists of her own. Koehler led the defense with 12 digs, while ASHLEY RAPPAPORT notched 10 digs.
 
In the second match of the evening for the Hilltoppers, St. Edward's held a narrow lead over Texas Woman's, 17-16 after a kill by Rauch. The Pioneers would score the next four points to take a 20-17 lead. Back-to-back kills by Rauch and another by Koehler pushed the set even. It was neck-and-neck from then on. After Texas Woman's called a timeout at 23-23, they came out and committed an attack error. A kill by Koehler sealed a first-set for victory for the Hilltoppers.
 
In set two, the match was again tied late at 17-17. Four attack errors by St. Edward's did in the home team down the stretch as the Pioneers tied the match at one set each.
 
In the third set, with the Hilltoppers trailing 16-15, Texas Woman's went on a 3-0 run and then split the points from there on out to take a 25-20 victory.
 
In set four, the Hilltoppers trailed 16-13. Four-straight points by Texas Woman's made it 20-13 and forced St. Edward's to take a timeout. The Hilltoppers could never get on track, as the Pioneers coasted the rest of the way for a four-set victory.
 
Both Aycock and Koehler tallied 10 kills, while Rauch and ELISSA STANTON added eight kills each. Billie led the Hilltoppers with 19 assists while Kelly added 16 assists. Rappaport led St. Edward's with 22 digs, and Koehler finished in double-digit digs again with 10.
 
St. Edward's will be back in action tomorrow for day two of the Hilltopper-Rattler Classic. They will take on Minnesota-Crookston at 11 a.m. and Western New Mexico at 7 p.m. All matches of the tournament will have live video available on the Hilltopper Athletic Website.