SAN ANTONIO – In another thrilling Battle of the Saints rivalry match, St. Edward's volleyball lost to the St. Mary's Rattlers in five sets (20-25, 25-14, 25-22, 20-25, 11-15). 

In an evenly contested match, St. Mary's reeled of a 10-5 run midway through the first set to create separation at 20-15 and held on for the 25-20 win behind five kills each from Brianna Morris-Worth and Landri Withers. 

St. Edward's battled back to even the match, setting the tone with a strong serve that produced four aces and supported a defensive performance that limited the Rattlers to eight kills with eight attack errors. MAYA SMALLS did the heavy lifting on the attack with five of her team-high 16 kills on a .455 clip. 

The Hilltoppers followed with four more aces in the third set, paced by SARAH KONOVODOFF's three in seven serves, and an efficient set from middle blocker AJANI HODGES (four kills on six attacks) to take lead with a 25-22 win. 

Both teams battled back and forth in the fourth set, which was tied at 16-16 two-thirds of the way in before St. Mary's reeled off a 9-4 run punctuated by a Lindsey Ogle block for the 25-20 victory to even the match at 2-2. 

St. Mary's closed the match at the net in the fifth set, blocking five St. Edward's attacks and forcing nine Hilltopper attack errors to take the match with a 15-11 win. 

Smalls' 16 kills were produced on a .245 hitting percentage. CAROLINE SWAN added nine kills (.100) and AUDREY QUESNEL had eight (.238). Hodges contributed an efficient seven kills (.500) and four block assists. Konovodoff had four service aces and 29 digs. 

Both teams hit .149 for the match but St. Mary's had 10 more kills at 58-48. 

The Hilltoppers falls to 5-13 with a 2-5 conference record after the loss. The Rattlers pull even at 9-9 with a 5-2 conference record after the win. St. Edward's will host Western New Mexico this Saturday at noon.