September 15, 2007
San Antonio–Samantha Weber set a career high with 30 kills and St. Mary’s University hit .333, as the Rattlers rallied to defeat Newman University, 26-30, 33-31, 30-27, 30-21, in Heartland Conference volleyball action Saturday afternoon at Bill Greehey Arena.
Weber (Sr., Fort Lupton, Colo.) topped her previous career high of 27 kills with 30 in just four games against the Jets. She broke the four-game school record of 26 and became just the fifth player to post 30 or more kills since the school moved to Division II in 2000.
Weber was one of four Rattlers to pick up 10 or more kills in the match. Laura Sudano (Sr., East Setauket, N.Y.) had 17 kills and 11 digs. Sarah Moreno (Jr., Pearland) had 15 kills, while Kori McCarver (Fr., San Antonio) picked up 12 kills. Courtney Matula (Sr., San Antonio) set a St. Mary’s four-game school record with 68 assists in the match.
As a team the Rattlers had 82 kills, a new school record for a four-game match, 73 assists, the second highest total for a four-game match and a .333 attack percentage.
Newman was led by Abbra Tallman, who had 23 kills and 10 digs. Jessica Hohn and Sarah George also topped 10 kills in the match. Katie Valliere had 20 digs to lead the defense. As a team the Jets hit .327 in the match.
With the win the Rattlers are now 7-7 and have won five of their last seven matches. They are also 2-0 in Heartland Conference play. Newman fell to 0-17 and 0-2. The Rattlers will return to action on Thursday when they travel to Austin to take on St. Edward’s University at 7 p.m.