Sept. 02--SAN MARCOS -- The Ragin' Rattler Tournament beginning today couldn't come soon enough for San Marcos as the team is ready to embrace all the comforts of playing at home and hosting their own tournament. The Lady Rattlers (9-8) have seen very little of the Snake Pit this season as 14 of their 17 games have been played on the road.

There will be 32 of the best high school volleyball teams from around Central and South Texas coming to San Marcos for the three-day tournament.

"We're excited to host these teams, there are a lot of good teams coming here," said SMHS senior outside hitter Maggie Breed. "It being our home tournament, we want to win it, so we'll be pushing hard."

Lady Rattlers head coach Michelle Moreno said that while her team must not get ahead of themselves, the expectation to win it all is certainly there.

"It's always in the back of our heads," Moreno said. "The closer we get to it, it becomes more realistic."

San Marcos begins play in Pool A this afternoon, with its first game coming against Poteet at 3:00 p.m. followed by a match against Liberty Hill at 5:00 p.m. and finishing with Canyon Lake at 7:00 p.m.

Moreno is most looking forward to playing Liberty Hill, which she believes represents a scrappy, underappreciated challenge to the teams in their pool despite the school's small size.

"In previous years they've been very good in their district," Moreno said. "Although they're a 3A school those smaller schools that come out here are very competitive."

Depending on how well the Lady Rattlers fare on Thursday, they could move on to the top bracket, the Gold Division, giving them a chance to win the tournament.

For the teams that don't win their pool and reach the Gold Division, they will advance to the Silver, Bronze or Copper Division based on their record in pool play.

Junior setter Jordan Carswell said that while she and her teammates are confident, they do need to improve on their backline defense if they are to have a chance to storm through their home tournament.

"We mainly need to work on our communication on the court," Carswell said. "On the backline with our defense we're struggling with tips and everything."

Just as every team is trying to constantly tweak and fine tune its play, there are other areas of need Carswell believes the Lady Rattlers have to focus hard on.

Carswell doesn't doubt that her team has the skills to win, but she does believe they need to improve on their mental toughness and not let the gradual decline in their play increase whenever the small things that start going wrong begin to grow more severe.

"We haven't really gotten that mindset of 'We're not losing this game,'" she said, 'so we kind of just think about losing when we're down and we keep ourselves there."

While the Lady Rattlers are looking forward to an extended stay at home this weekend, Moreno knows that ultimately it's the intensity of one's fans that makes a team's home environment what it is, something she can't wait to see in full force throughout the tournament.

"We want to get back on that winning streak," she said, "and our fans with their energy definitely give us that lift."

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