Match Information
Score: St. Mary's 3, Lubbock Christian 1 (22-25, 25-20, 25-18, 25-17)
Records: Lubbock Christian (10-17), St. Mary's (18-11)
Location: Stubblefield Center – Fort Smith, Ark.
  
Highlights
Lubbock Christian was off to a good start at the 2017 Heartland Conference Tournament, claiming the opening set, but St. Mary's would conquer the rest of the contest and eliminate the Lady Chaps from the four-team single elimination tournament with a 3-1 win over the Lady Chaps Friday night at Stubblefield Center. StMU had a well-rounded performance, leading LCU in kills (57-42), blocks (5-4) and aces (9-0). Channing Hankins and Tarine Grace led StMU with 13 kills. LCU received a 31-dig performance from Kelsie French and 11 kills from Channing Stewart.   
 
How It Happened
  
Set One:
Maddie DeGuire had the matches first seven serves, as LCU opened the match on a 6-0 run highlighted by a pair of Lauren Zoller kills.  The run was also part of a 12-3 scoring surge by LCU. The Rattlers crawled back midway through the set and used a 10-5 run to cut the LCU lead to 22-20. Kills by Emily Hanaway and Channing Stewart helped preserve the set for LCU with a 25-22 tally. StMU had more kills than LCU in the set, but LCU had a .333 attack percentage and received four kills from Hanaway. StMU had 14 serving errors in the match and four came in the opening set.
  
Set Two:
The two squads were neck-and-neck to open the set, until the Rattlers pulled away from an 12-11 lead with a 4-1 run during a 9-5 scoring stretch for a 21-16 lead. StMU won the set 25-20. MacKenzie Harless matched teammate Amanda Lake's trio of aces from the first set with three aces in the second set for StMU. Mandee Eberle led StMU with four kills in the set.   
 
Set Three:
LCU trailed by four several times early and was able to use a 4-0 run sparked by a Lauren Zoller kill and block assist to tie the set 11-11. A couple of LCU attack and serving errors followed, leading to the Rattlers building an 18-14 lead. Camille Porco produced a kill for LCU to help attempt a rally, but StMU responded by closing the set on a 7-1 run. StMU's Tarine Grace produced three kills in StMU's final four points, and led the set with six kills. LCU was held to six kills in the set.
 
Set Four:
The fourth set was the only set featuring more than one lead change. Channing Stewart produced a kill to pull LCU within two points (9-7), but StMU answered with a 6-1 run for a 15-8 lead. Eberle had three kills during the 6-1 run for StMU. The Rattlers would respond again following a Stewart kill. The kill put LCU as close as they would get, cutting the deficit to 18-13, as the Rattlers responded on a 4-1 run and claimed the match with a 25-18 set win. Stewart led all players in the set with six kills in the set. Another Channing (Channing Hankins) also had a big set, as her and Eberle each had five kills in the set for StMU. The Rattlers had 18 kills in the set and produced a .410 kill percentage. 
 
Inside the Numbers:
.176 – LCU struggled most of the season in kill percentage. They produced a .176 mark Friday. Their season high was a mark of .228 on Sept. 12 at UTPB, as LCU never topped the .250 mark on the season. In comparison, LCU topped the mark eight times last season.
1-3 – The loss placed LCU with an all-time record of 1-3 at the Heartland Conference Tournament. LCU was appearing in the tournament for a third time and have qualified for it each season they have been eligible for NCAA Div. II postseason.
7-2 – Friday, LCU lost a match for a second time this season when winning the opening set.  LCU opened the season 6-0 in matches in which they won the opening set, but lost two of their last three matches when winning the opening set.
9 – LCU went without an ace for a second time during the season and the nine aces allowed matched a season high for a third time during the season. On Sept. 2, Concordia (Ore.) had a 9-0 advantage in aces against LCU.
10 – A tough season for LCU, they completed their season with a 10-17 record.  The 10-win total is not the program norm, as the win total is the fewest since an 8-23 mark in 1989.
1,971 – Libero Kelsie French produced 31 digs for her fourth straight match with at least 30 digs.  The mark moved her career mark in digs to 1,971, passing Stacy Simpson (1,961) and moving into fourth on LCU's all-time career digs list.  She is ranked as 12^th on NCAA Div.II's list of active digs leaders and second among non-seniors on the list. She completed the 2017 season with 645 digs, marking the ninth highest single-season total in program history.