SAN ANTONIO, Texas – St. Edward's University Volleyball fell 3-1 to St. Mary's on Thursday night in round two of the Battle of the Saints, but
MORGAN BECKHAM stole the show as she posted a 39-dig performance to tie the program record for digs in a four-set match.
The freshman libero ground out nine digs in the opening set and didn't look back as she matched
KELLY JIMENEZ's mark from last season. On the attack
MIKAYLA GRILL and
TABITHA ELDER slammed down eight kills each while the setter duo of
JULIA HARTLEY and
JACLYN BILLIE each turned in a double-double performance with 16 assists and 12 digs for Hartley, and 12 assists and 10 digs for Billie.
The Hilltoppers record moves to 5-16 overall, and 4-6 in the Heartland Conference. St. Mary's improves to 5-15 and 3-8.
In game one the Hilltoppers put the Rattlers on tilt early, taking a 7-3 lead and forcing a St. Mary's timeout. The home team then fired off a 4-0 run to tie the game at seven. Both teams would trade points, but with the game tied at 11, St. Mary's would pull away and take game one 25-20, despite Beckham's performance on defense.
Set two proved to be a much different story with the margin of advantage never exceeding three points. The Hilltoppers took an early lead that extended to 11-8 on a kill by Elder. The lead would switch sides following a 6-1 run by the Rattlers. However St. Edward's remained unfazed, rallying behind kills from Hendrix and Rauch to tie the game at 15. The visitors then used a kill from Parker to take a one-point lead they would not surrender, powering to a 25-22 win to tie the match a one game apiece.
The intermission provided little reprieve as game three turned into another battle where the largest lead was just two points. Unfortunately for St. Edward's the Rattlers would take the game 25-23, and in game four the St. Mary's offense came alive, hitting .368 as a team, and surging to a 25-9 match-clinching win.
With the Battle of the Saints tied at one game each, St. Edward's will head south again on Saturday looking to avenge their early-season loss to Texas A&M-International. First serve is set for 1 p.m. in Laredo, Texas. Live updates will be available through links found at GoHilltoppers.com.
