Match 1 Information
Score: St Mary's 3, Lubbock Christian 2 (25-21, 17-25, 26-24, 20-25, 15-10)
Records: Lubbock Christian (0-1), St. Mary's (1-0)
Location: The Eagles' Nest – Oklahoma City
Match 2 Information
Score: Lubbock Christian 3, Oklahoma Christian 0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-18)
Records: Lubbock Christian (1-1), Oklahoma Christian (1-1)
Location: The Eagles' Nest – Oklahoma City
Highlights
Win number-one as a head coach at Lubbock Christian University for
Keith Giboney is in the books. The Lady Chaps came close obtaining the win in their season opener, but fell short with a 3-2 loss to St. Mary's. They followed the contest sweeping Oklahoma Christian 3-0 in straight sets to split the opening day of the 2021 season. Friday's two non-conference contests were part of the Eagle Invitational hosted by Oklahoma Christian inside The Eagles' Nest.
The opening match went the distance, as LCU fell in five sets 3-2. Ironically, the last time LCU opened the season with a five-set match was on Sept. 4, 2014 against St. Mary's (LCU won that meeting 3-2). True freshman
Aaliyah Gray made her collegiate debut with 11 kills to lead LCU. Texas A&M Corpus Christi transfer
Hannah Froeschl also finished in double figures with 10 kills.
Jalee Sims nearly claimed LCU's first triple-double since 1990, as she posted a career-high eight kills, which nearly hit the mark to match 39 assists and 21 digs. Four Rattlers finished in double figures in kills, with Alicia Virthe leading all players with 20 kills. Aislan Lennon (33 assists, 14 digs) and Alissa Tolbert (21 digs, 14 kills) completed double-doubles for the Rattlers, who also received a match-high 25 digs from Gabi Sandoval.
LCU followed with
Sage Chain and Gray co-leading the match with 10 kills each in their win over Oklahoma Christian.
Kaitlyn Mayo and Froeschl each contributed six kills as well. The win was LCU's first straight-set win since Oct. 19, 2019 against Western New Mexico.
Match 1 - How It Happened
Set One:
A trio of Rattlers attack errors, with a
Sage Chain solo block in the mix, allowed LCU to rebound from a deficit and take a 10-9 lead. The lead was short-lived, as StMU rebounded with a 7-2 run and forced LCU into a timeout leading 16-13. A 5-1 surge allowed the Rattlers to build the lead to 22-16, and it was enough to avoid a 4-1 LCU rally paced by a pair of kills from
Aaliyah Gray, as the Rattlers claimed the opening set of the season 25-21. Gray led LCU with five kills in the set.
Jalee Sims had nine assists in the set for LCU. StMU hit .326 in the set, with five players producing at least three of StMU's 19 kills in the set. Meghan Stiefer and Alicia Virthe co-led the way with four kills each for StMU.
Set Two:
LCU produced a series of rallies to help them in the second set. Trailing 5-3, LCU went on a 7-2, capped by an ace from
Hannah Froeschl, to take a 10-7 lead. StMU later had a 4-1 rally to cut LCU's lead to 16-14, but the Lady Chaps countered with a 7-0 run (highlighted by a kill from
Mady McCully) for a 22-14 lead.
Jenna Lyons played a part in LCU's final five points of the set, with three kills and two blocks. Her fourth and final kill of the set clinched the set for LCU at 25-17. After allowing StMU produce a .326 hitting percentage in the first set, the Lady Chaps held StMU to a .075 hitting percentage. Virthe led all players with five kills in the set.
Set Three:
The Lady Chaps used a 5-1 rally to overcome a 22-18 deficit late in the set, but they were only able to tie the set at 23-23 and 24-24. StMU's Alissa Tolbert and Julia Aleman followed with the clinching kills to take the set 26-24. The score was tied on nine occasions in the set. StMU found success at the net, with Virthe (8) and Tolbert (6) combing for 14 of the Rattlers 21 kills in the set.
Set Four:
LCU had their best performance in the fourth set, hitting .300 in the set (13 kills on 30 attempts). A kill by Froeschl ignited a 5-0 LCU run early, which provided LCU a 10-5 lead. With LCU leading 15-11, neither team was able to hold serve for the remainder of the set, which LCU won 25-20.
Sage Post entered the match in the set and led LCU with four kills. Sims contributed 10 assists in the set.
Set Five:
The momentum from the fourth set did not carry over to the decisive fifth set. LCU committed six errors (five attack errors) early in the set to help StMU take a 9-3 lead. The Lady Chaps attempted to mount a comeback, going on a 6-2 run to cut their deficit to 11-9. LCU would be unable to get any closer, as StMU closed the set and match on a 4-1 run for a 15-10 set win.
Inside the Numbers:
28-14 – LCU, opening their 43
rd season in program history, fell to 28-15 all-time in season openers. It was their fourth loss of their last 14 openers.
.172 – The Lady Chaps produced 56 kills and had a .172 attack percentage in the match. The percentage mark would have ranked as their third-best last season, and the 56 kills would have been a season-high (their highest mark since Nov. 2, 2019).
1 – Maddi McCully was credited with a kill, marking the first collegiate kill for the junior, who was playing in her 24
th career match.
4 –
Hannah Froeschl (started),
Aaliyah Gray (started)
Kendall Mahaney (started – libero), and
Kaitlyn Mayo (started) each made their LCU debut.
8 – Returning All-LSC selection
Jenna Lyons posted a career-high eight kills, which topped her prior high of six (Feb. 3, 2021 vs. UT Permian Basin).
11 –
Aaliyah Gray led LCU with 11 kills and is the first true freshman to post at least 10 kills in a LCU season opener since Emily Hanaway posted 16 kills in 2015 against Adams State.
13 – StMU served up 13 service errors, which is the most by an LCU opponent since MSU Mankato had 15 misfires from the service line on Aug. 31, 2018.
14 – The Rattlers claimed their 14
th all-time win over LCU and is now 14-11 all-time against LCU (LCU had won the prior three meetings). Three of the last six matches between the two programs have gone five sets.
21 – Mahaney made her collegiate debut starting as libero. She co-led LCU (with Sims) with 21 digs in the contest.
Match 2 - How It Happened
Set One:
The two teams opened the match with a pair of lead changes and the score locked up on six occasions until LCU unlocked a 9-9 tie with a 6-0 run sparked by a pair of serving aces by Mahaney. The Eagles marched back to cut the LCU lead to 18-17, only to commit four straight errors to allow LCU to take a 22-17 lead en route to a 25-19 set win.
Sage Chain led LCU with four kills, as five different Lady Chaps had at least one kill (LCU had 14 kills in the set and hit .289). Alysa Hamlin led OC with six kills in the set.
Set Two:
Froeschl had a kill followed by a serving ace to help snap the set's fourth tie (7-7) and placed LCU on a 3-0 run for a 10-7 lead. The two teams were neck-and-neck in scoring, until LCU scooted away from a 16-15 advantage with a 6-0 scoring surge behind five serves from Froeschl. LCU would claim the set 25-18, with Gray leading LCU in the set with four kills.
Set Three:
The pace of the third set was similar to the prior two. Leading 10-9, Chain produced consecutive kills and sparked LCU towards a 7-1 run for a 17-10 lead. She also produced the final kill of the match to win the set (25-18) and the match for LCU. Post provided a trio of aces in the set.
Inside the Numbers:
2 – LCU played two matches Friday, which marked the first time since Sept. 13, 2019 in which they played more than one match on a day.
.243 – LCU's attack percentage of .243 in the match was their best attack mark since hitting .327 Oct. 25, 2018 (vs. Texas A&M International).
3-0 – The Lady Chaps and Oklahoma Christian were meeting for the first time since Oct. 16, 1980, and the LCU win places them 3-0 all-time against the Eagles (all three meetings have been at OC).
11 – True freshman
Kayton Genenbacher made her collegiate debut in the game and produced 11 assists.
7 – LCU had seven aces in the match and three were produced by Post in a career-high performance.
16 – Not 16 candles, but 16 kills on the day for
Hannah Froeschl, who also celebrated her birthday Friday.
823 – Giboney (385) and OC head coach Jason Skoch (438) have combined for 823 wins through Friday's play. The meeting between the two programs was their first head-to-head encounter. Skoch, like Giboney, is in his first season coaching his current team.
Up Next:
LCU remains in Oklahoma City Saturday and is up early for a 10 a.m. tilt against Bentley (Mass.) to conclude play in their opening week of the season.
