Women's Volleyball 9/19/2012 12:47:00 AM

Volleyball’s Struggles Continue, Dustdevils Fall to St. Mary’s

Box Score SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Dustdevils committed 31 errors and hit only .149 as a team, while five Rattlers tallied double digit kills as St. Mary’s topped TAMIU Tuesday night in five sets 21-25, 26-24, 17-25, 25-21, and 11-15.

Sophomore Alex Ciszek led the Dustdevils with her fourth double-double of the season, registering 19 kills and 21 digs. Andrea Marshall and Daria Winckler also kicked in double-doubles, Marshall finishing with 16 kills and 17 digs and Winckler adding a game-high 47 assists and 14 digs.

The loss drops TAMIU’s conference record to 1-3 on the season, while St. Mary’s improves to 2-2.

After dropping the opening set the Dustdevils shifted the momentum back to their favor, coming up big late in the second. Trailing 15-17, TAMIU rattled off a 6-2 run to grab a 21-19 lead before St. Mary’s scored two consecutive points to tie it at 21. The Dustdevils fired back with kills from Miranda Pratt and Alex Ciszek, but once again the Rattlers were able to even the score with two straight points. Ciszek and Marshall each added a kill as TAMIU took two of the final three points to take the second frame.

Despite hitting .000 as a team in the third, the Dustdevils led 14-12 at the halfway mark. From that point on it was all Rattlers, as St. Mary’s closed the game on a 13-3 run to take a 2-1 match lead.

The fourth set looked like trouble early on as St. Mary’s started out to a 6-11 lead, then increased their advantage to 8-14. Showing a great deal of resiliency, TAMIU came back using an 11-2 run to grab a 19-16 lead and eventually force a fifth and deciding set.

The Dustdevils jumped out to an early 5-3 lead in the fifth thanks to two St. Mary’s errors and kills by Ciszek, Matula, and Marshall. However the momentum was short-lived as the Rattlers fired off an 8-2 run to take the lead 7-11. Ciszek and Pratt brought TAMIU back to within two points with back-to-back kills, but a 4-2 run by St. Mary’s aided by consecutive errors by Marshall gave the Rattlers the 3-2 win.

The ladies now gear up for a long road trip, as they head to Pleasantville, New York to participate in the Pace University Invitational. The Dustdevils open up tournament play on Friday, September 21 versus Caldwell College and follow with a match versus Franklin Pierce University.

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