SAN ANGELO, Texas – Senior Madison Brabham's (Kingwood, Texas) second double-double of the season combined with a smashing debut from junior Sarah Miller (Long Beach, Calif.) propelled the Texas A&M-Kingsville volleyball team to a 25-19, 25-14, 26-28, 26-24 victory over the St. Mary's Rattlers on Saturday morning at Stephens Arena at the Junell Center in San Angelo, Texas.

"Our defense was phenomenal," said coach Tanya Allen, "and I thought we did a good job in serve receive as well."

Allen saw Brabham collect a game-high 16 kills to go with a .333 success rate, the contest's best mark, 19 assists, eight digs and four block assists. Miller pitched in with 15 successful attacks and 14 scoops.

Freshman Nicole Murff's (San Antonio, Texas) 28 assists were nearly twice as many as the next highest total. Fellow rookie Emily North (Red Oak, Texas) ended the morning with 29 helpers and has accumulated at least 20 in all three matches so far this season.

The Javs easily outhit their foes, posting an .178 attack percentage, their best through three games, while the Rattlers could only manage a .078 clip

The opening frame was all Javelinas, as they captured six of the first seven rallies and never looked back. Their lead got as large as eight at 12-4 and 19-11 with the Rattlers unable to find a response. Kills by Miller and Brabham finished a set in which each player collected five finishers. Miller totaled five smashes on six swings. North totaled seven assists while the Javelina defense held the Rattlers to an attack percentage of .034.

Things didn't change much in the second frame, as the Javs jumped out to leads of 10-2 and 13-3, putting the Rattlers in a hole they couldn't climb out of. The TAMUK advantage got as large as 11 and a St. Mary's error provided the final point and put the Blue and Gold up 2-0. The Javelinas outhit their opponents .212 to -.054. Murff contributed seven digs in the frame and North chipped in with just as many assists.

St. Mary's found life in the third, raising their hit percentage to .160. They built a three-point lead at 13-10 before the Javelinas reeled off five-in-a-row, the final point coming on a blast from junior Melanie Casteel (Dallas, Texas). TAMUK continued to lead late at 22-20, but the Rattlers held in the face of a pair of match points. Down 26-25, they scored three straight, stealing the stanza on an error by Brabham.

Denied the chance at a sweep, TAMUK hung tough in the fourth game despite an early 5-3 deficit. A pair of attack errors by St. Mary's spurred a 9-3 Javelina run and TAMUK pushed their lead to 17-10 before the opposition answered. Winning 10 of 11, SMU seemed primed to stretch the match to fifth set before the Javs rose to the challenge and took eight of the final nine rallies. Murff applied the clincher with her third ace of the day.

Channing Hankins totaled 12 kills to lead the Rattlers while Monica Ramon's 15 digs were a team-high. Haley Bradfute's 27 assists were one off a game-high.  

Up next for TAMUK is a home exhibition against Mary Hardin Baylor on Tuesday at 2 p.m. at the Steinke Physical Education Center. To keep up with everything related to Javelina volleyball all season long, follow @JavelinaVB on Twitter and @javelinasports on Instagram, like Javelina Volleyball on Facebook and visit Javelinasports.com.