WICHITA - The Newman volleyball team opened Heartland Conference play Thursday evening with a five-set loss to St. Mary's. Karol Marins had 13 kills followed by Jeana Farruggia who had 12.

- The Jets kept to within two of the Rattlers most of the first set. Jeana Farruggia had two kills late in the set to bring the Jets within two but the Rattlers had a late three point run to give them the set 25-20.

- After watching St. Mary's take a 9-7 lead in the second set, a Haley Dotson kill followed by four St. Mary's errors and a Gabby Loxterman service ace resulted in a 13-9 Newman lead and swung momentum in favor of the Jets. Newman extended their lead to as many as 21-15 after three St. Mary's errors before holding on for the 25-21 win.

- Katelyn Schmidtberger had a kill and two service aces during a four point run to give the Jets a 7-3 lead in the third set. The Jets extended their lead to 15-9 on a Dotson service ace but the Rattlers rallied to within two, 16-14 after back-to-back kills from Mallory Moeller. The Jets closed the set on a 9-3 run after a Marins kill sealed the set 25-17.

- St. Mary's took control of the fourth set jumping out to a 16-8 lead but the Jets managed to bring it back to within two, 17-15 after a pair of Rattler errors, a Farruggia kill and a block-assist from Schmidtberger and Megan Holick. That was as close as the Jets could get. St. Mary's scored the next five points of the set and cruised to the 25-21 fourth set win.

- Neither team was able to establish momentum early in the fifth set. After forcing four ties the Jets looked to be on the verge of victory with a 12-11 lead, and forced the Rattlers to call a timeout. St.Mary's went on to score the next four points of the set to win the match 15-12.

- Marins led the Jets offense, riding a .542 attack percentage to a team-high 13 kills.Farruggia was close behind with 12 kills while Schmidtberger added nine.

- Loxterman and Schmidtberger shared setter duties in the match. Loxterman finished with 19 assists while Schmidtberger added 18.

- Kristen White cleaned up 27 digs to lead all defensive players.

With the loss the Jets fall to 1-5 on the season and 0-1 in the Heartland Conference. They will return to action Saturday, hosting Texas A&M International in a 12 p.m. contest inside Fugate Gymnasium.