AUSTIN – Just as they did on night one, St. Edward's came back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat St. Mary's for the second time in as many days in the Battle of the Saints.
 
Match two picked up where last night's match left off, with teams trading points early in set one. St. Mary's took advantage of SEU hitting errors to post a five point lead, 13-8. The advantage was enough for StMU to take the first set, 25-16. 
 
With the set tied 9-9 in set two, the Rattlers hit their stride, going on an 8-2 run to lead 17-11 late. After trailing 19-11, SEU put together a run of their own to eventually lead 23-22. The lead was short-lived however, as StMU pulled out the win 25-23.
 
SEU rattled off five straight to lead 5-1 in the third set, forcing an early Rattler timeout to stop the run. Steadily, St. Mary's was able to get back in the game and tied it up 8-8. The Hilltoppers were able to press all the way to the end, winning the set 25-21. 
 
As the fourth set got underway it was all St. Ed's as the Hilltoppers led 12-3 early. Slowly things began to unravel with back-to-back aces from the Rattlers, but KAITLYN KRAFKA's monster kill refocused the Hilltoppers and allowed them to cruise to the 25-18 set win.
 
SEU didn't stop there as they jumped out to an early lead that they would not relinquish, relying on their stout defense to hand the Rattlers the loss, 15-8.
 
St. Edward's hit just .178 for the match but held St. Mary's to .096 and negative attack percentages in the final three sets.
 
Krafka led with 15 kills while MADDIE MIKSCH added 12 and CAROLINE SWAN 10. EMILY TRAN and NATALIA WALLS were an impressive tandem, logging 24 and 23 assists, respectively. Nicole Grant was the true star of the defensive unit, recording 32 digs on the night.
 
St. Edward's improves to 3-3 on the season and Lone Star Conference. They return to action on February 23, heading to Texas A&M-Kingsville to open a two game series at 6 pm.