Box Score UTPB volleyball opened up a busy weekend of action Thursday night with an 18-25, 16-25, 15-25 three-set loss to Heartland Conference - leader UA Fort Smith.

Having dropped the first set by seven points, the Falcons came out strong after falling behind 3-0 to open the second. UTPB followed the Lions opening run with three straight points of its own and later took a 7-5 lead behind another three-point swing.

UA Fort Smith took a commanding 18-10 lead in the second by scoring 12 of 14 points and ended the set with five of the final six.

The Lions took over in the third, breaking a 2-2 tie early on with a 12-3 run to lead 14-5, and they never looked back in leading by 11 points twice in the set before taking the match with a 25-15 third set win.

Ryley Carman led UTPB with eight kills on the night. Ariana Gallardo had 23 assists for the Falcons while Taylor Harmon had a team-high 10 digs.

Michelle Walker had 14 kills for UA Fort Smith to lead all players on the night. Bailey Katzfey had a match-best 33 assists and Emily Tripp and Katarina Krstonosic tied for the team lead with eight digs.

The Falcons are back home Saturday, hosting Dallas Baptist at noon and Eastern New Mexico at 4 p.m., with DBU and ENMU playing in-between at 2 p.m.