THE RUNDOWN
DBU (2-0, 1-0) took down St. Mary's (6-2, 0-1) in four sets on Friday evening in front of a rowdy home crowd in Dallas, Texas, to stay undefeated on the season. Junior Haley Van Poppel set a new career high again, surpassing her previous best of 21 kills in the season opener with a 25-kill performance. Freshman Audrey Nunes put together a complete effort, notching career highs in kills (11), digs (12), and blocks (3).
 
A back and forth opening set didn't see a lead for either team grow larger than three, and the 10-7 Rattlers advantage was quickly erased by Halee Van Poppel and a pair of STMU errors. Trailing 19-18, the Lady Patriots turned to Van Poppel, who showed off the offensive repertoire with a trio of kills to retake the lead. St. Mary's would pull even once more at 22, but freshman Audrey Nunes closed the door with two kills in the final three plays to give DBU the 25-23 win.
 
Set 2 appeared to be headed the same direction early, with an Alyssa Parks kill bringing DBU to within one at 6-5. Five of the next six points went to St. Mary's, however, and the Lady Patriots never fully recovered. OH Alissa Tolbert fueled a Rattlers' attack that opened the lead up to seven at 21-14. Freshman Price Reeves brought DBU back to within four, but STMU ultimately pulled even at one set apiece with a 25-21 victory.
 
A flurry of errors kept things close to open up the third set, but the Lady Patriots settled into a groove and created separation midway through the frame for a six-point advantage. The lead would stay above three the rest of the way, as Parks and Van Poppel paced the DBU attack for a 25-16 edge in the crucial swing set.
 
Van Poppel recorded three of her 25 kills early in the fourth frame to give coach Fish's squad a 5-2 lead. Both teams exchanged runs, with the Rattlers evening the score at 5-5 before DBU chipped in four straight points. Another 4-0 run by St. Mary's showed the frenetic home crowd that the visiting Rattlers wouldn't go down without a fight, and the score hovered around a three-point difference all the way to a 20-17 DBU advantage. The Lady Patriots took control down the stretch, with an Aryn Walton service ace placing the home team on match point. DBU clinched a 25-17 win on the next play via an attack error as coach Fish moved on to 2-0 in her Lady Patriots' tenure.
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Haley Van Poppel's 25 kills are the most kills recorded by a single DBU player since Tadam Mergener's 25-kill outing vs UA Fort Smith on November 23, 2013.
 - Alyssa Parks finished with a scorching .700 attack percentage.
 - DBU starts Lone Star Conference Play 1-0 for the second time in the past three years, with the 2019 conference-opening win also coming in the form of a 3-1 victory over St. Mary's at the Burg Center.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
58 – Total kills for the Lady Patriots.
20 – Assists recorded by both Macey Winburn and Aryn Walton.
.244 – DBU's hit percentage in the match.

JORDAN FISH ON THE TEAM'S STRONG PERFORMANCE
"I was really impressed with how we played as a team - everyone contributed in a big way. We chose to see the break in action as an opportunity and challenge to get better any way we could. We were excited to get back and make every rep count."

UP NEXT
DBU hosts St. Edward's tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 pm in the Burg Center.