OKLAHOMA CITY (Oct. 23, 2021) – Oklahoma Christian dug itself some proverbial holes on Saturday afternoon against St. Mary's (Texas), and while the Eagles climbed out of some of them, eventually it became too much.

OC rallied from a set down to tie the match, but fell behind early in the third set and late in the fourth and wasn't able to come back from those deficits as the Rattlers won 3-1 (25-21, 13-25, 25-23, 26-24) in the Eagles' Nest.

OC (7-15, 3-9 Lone Star Conference) actually outpointed St. Mary's (11-7, 5-6) over the course of the match, but mostly, the Eagles found themselves trying to come from behind, even though they hit .192 (compared to .112 for St. Mary's).

The Rattlers jumped to an 8-0 lead in the first set and looked like they'd cruise, except OC quickly closed that gap, tied the set at 13-13 and eventually led 21-20 before surrendering five straight points, giving St. Mary's the set.

OC dominated the second set from start to finish but wasn't able to maintain the momentum into the third set, giving up six straight points midway through the set to fall behind 18-11. The Eagles closed within 23-22 and 24-23 but a kill by Alissa Tolbert (who led St. Mary's with 17, along with 17 digs) put the Rattlers up a set for the second time.

OC led 5-1 and 9-5 early in the fourth set, but the Rattlers scored seven straight points to go up 12-9 and again the Eagles had to fight from behind. OC earned a set point at 24-23 on a kill by Kelsie Schiefelbein, but the Rattlers answered with a kill by Lindsey Ogle and then took advantage of two attack errors by OC to end the match.

Hannah Rouse (13 kills, 17 digs), setter Spencer Plato (27 assists, 12 digs) and Kyla Chavez (20 assists, 10 digs) all recorded a double-double for OC, while Morgan Demuth had 12 kills and Scheifelbein had 10 and Allyssa Hamlin had 18 digs. Julia Aleman added 12 kills for St. Mary's, while Gabi Sandoval had 27 digs.

OC now is 1½ games behind St. Edward's (Texas) and Eastern New Mexico for the last of 12 berths in the LSC postseason tournament with five league matches remaining. First, OC will visit local rival Southern Nazarene on Tuesday for a nonconference match. LSC foe Arkansas-Fort Smith will visit the Eagles' Nest next Saturday.