CANYON – For the second time in as many matches, The University of Texas of the Permian Basin dropped a five-set match, this time against Missouri Western, before taking a 3-0 win over Western State in the final match of the BritKare Lady Buff Classic.
In the first match of the day,
Melissa Lusk carried the Falcons offensively as she picked up 13 kills with just two errors in 25 total attacks, while
Alex Genung had 18 kills with 16 digs for her second double-double of the season. The one-two punch wasn't enough as Missouri Western escaped with a 25-21, 20-25, 25-22, 14-25, 15-11 victory for its third win of the season.
The two teams were nearly a mirror image of each other statistics wise as Missouri Western had 60 kills to UTPB's 59 and the Falcons picked up 59 digs to the Griffon's 56. The teams had identical service aces and the Falcons picked up one more total block in the loss.
UTPB hit .261 for the match, its highest five-match hitting percentage in the past two years.
The Falcons finally got in the win column in the final match of the tournament as they took a 26-24, 25-17, 25-18 win over Western State. UTPB rode the right arm of Lusk once again as she was nearly perfect garnering eight kills in 20 attacks without an error.
UTPB will open play its home opener Tuesday night at seven when it hosts the University of the Southwest in the Falcon Dome at 7 p.m.
